Event Details

Registration and breakfast begin at 8:00 am -

meeting will begin at 8:30 am. 

Legal Update

What better way to start the new year then by looking ahead to current and future challenges for HR professionals. Join us as a panel of local legal experts from Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black and Gentry Locke Attorneys tackle your tough questions. Our very own RV SHRM Legal Liaisons, Raven Burks and Olivia Moulds, will be moderating. Send us your questions prior to the meeting or be ready to ask them in person.

About our Speakers: 

King F. Tower

King is a member of Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black’s (WRVB) Appellate Law, Higher Education, and Labor & Employment practice groups. He assists employers with employment law litigation, labor-management relations, and also offers counsel to businesses on employment-related matters.

Best Lawyers in America named King as the 2023 Roanoke “Lawyer of the Year” for both Employment Law-Management and Labor Law-Management.

King regularly counsels and represents colleges and universities throughout Virginia, and leads the efforts of WRVB’s Higher Education team. He is an active member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) and a frequent speaker at a wide variety of higher education conferences such as CUPA-HR (College and University Professional Association), the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV), and WRVB’s own Higher Education seminars. In addition, King currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law and previously taught at the William & Mary Law School. His experience working for and within higher education institutions gives him valuable insight into the myriad issues facing higher educational institutions.

King’s experience as a labor and employment attorney includes defending claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Title VII. He has extensive experience providing strategic guidance to clients on conducting internal audits of corporate compliance, employment policies, and other critical decisions. King also assists federal contractors in preparing affirmative action programs and represents them during government audits. King has served as lead negotiator in collective bargaining and has represented employers in grievance and arbitration proceedings.”

Gentry Locke: 

Todd Leeson is the Chair of Gentry Locke’s Employment law practice group.  He has almost 35 years of experience representing Virginia employers in employment and labor law matters.  He regularly litigates employment claims in Virginia courts, and before agencies including the EEOC, NLRB, DOL, and the corresponding Virginia agencies.  Todd regularly drafts, enforces, and litigates non-compete agreements and executive employment contracts. In addition, he has considerable experience representing management in labor union matters.  He also represents Virginia colleges in various student conduct matters including Title IX and sexual misconduct complaints.

Todd is rated “AV/Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell, is repeatedly named one of the Best Lawyers in America in Labor & Employment Law, and has regularly been named to various lists, including Virginia Legal Elite.  As recent examples, in 2022, Virginia Lawyers Weekly named Todd a “Go-To Lawyer for Employment Law, and in 2022 Best Lawyers in America named Todd the “Lawyer of the Year” (Labor law-management) in Roanoke.  Todd was also honored by Virginia Lawyers Weekly in 2021 as a “Leader in the Law.”

Certification: 

Sponsor Information: 

The Bridge Institute