Practices:

• Litigation
  • Labor and Employment
• Labor and Employment
  • Labor Relations
  • Employment Services

Experience

For more than 20 years, Richard Hankins has advised U.S. corporations with regard to a wide variety of complex labor relations matters, such as large-scale union organizing and decertification campaigns, strikes and secondary boycotts, union jurisdictional disputes, and successor employer claims. He works closely with management on labor relations strategies related to new facilities, plant closings and consolidations, as well as during acquisitions and divestitures.

Mr. Hankins was lead counsel in what is believed to be the largest successful decertification campaign in U.S. history. He has successfully argued numerous traditional labor cases before U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, has appeared before more than 15 Regions of the National Labor Relations Board, and has spoken at conferences for the National Academy of Arbitrators and other prominent groups.

Mr. Hankins was active on behalf of the business community during the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007. He edited EFCA Updates, a web log tracking the status of the legislation, was interviewed by numerous media outlets in connection with the bill, and met with key government officials to present management perspectives.

In addition to his work in labor-management relations, Mr. Hankins handles wage and hour matters, employment discrimination claims, and restrictive covenant cases. He was a Contributing Editor on the treatise: Covenants Not To Compete: A State-by-State Survey (BNA Books, 1991).

Chambers USA rates Mr. Hankins as a leading Georgia Labor and Employment lawyer. He has also been named a Georgia Super Lawyer by Atlanta Magazine.

Mr. Hankins maintains the blog Labor Relations Today, dedicated to tracking key legislative, executive and administrative regulatory developments that significantly impact how employers interact with their employees and labor unions.

Education

• J.D., University of Mississippi School of Law, 1985
• B.S., Freed-Hardeman College, 1982

Admitted

• Georgia