LEIGH GROSS LATHEROW
Phone:
606-329-2929 Ext. 241
Email:
Leigh Gross Latherow is an AV rated attorney and a veteran civil litigator and appellate attorney whose experience includes two appearances as lead counsel before the Supreme Court of the United States, and numerous appearances before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Kentucky Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. She has served as first chair counsel in multiple federal and state court jury trials and arbitrations. She regularly represents clients before government agencies and administrative bodies, including the United States Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Kentucky Civil Rights Commission and Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.
Leigh’s litigation and trial experience includes a broad range of areas, including breach of contract, non-compete agreements, wrongful discharge, retaliation, wage and hour, harassment, discrimination, right-of-way disputes, boundary disputes, mineral lease rights, collection matters, Title VII claims, breach of fiduciary duty, premises liability, construction disputes, and medical malpractice defense. Leigh regularly represents employers and employees in employment litigation cases. She has obtained numerous injunctions and summary judgment decisions in federal and state courts on behalf of her clients.
Drawing upon her extensive labor and employment experience, Leigh has developed a strong human resources consulting practice. She teams with her clients to identify and prevent problems in the workplace before they arise. She has worked closely with her clients during COVID-19 to guide them through complex issues related to leave and accommodations. Other services to employers include developing employee handbooks and policies, conducting supervisory harassment training, counseling to avoid whistle-blowing and wage and hour claims, conducting harassment investigations, defending unemployment claims, and providing legal advice on employment laws such as the FMLA, Title VII, ADA and ADEA. Applying her experience with these workplace problems, she has developed a human resources law training program and is regularly requested to present those topics to HR managers throughout Kentucky.
AREAS OF PRACTICE
- Labor & Employment Litigation
- Employment Human Resources Consultations
- Civil & Commercial Litigation
- Construction Litigation
- Mineral Law Litigation
- Appellate
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Kentucky
- Ohio
- West Virginia
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Ohio
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Kentucky
- U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit
- Supreme Court of the United States
- U.S. District Court Western District of Kentucky
EDUCATION
- University of Kentucky
- B.S. Accounting
- University of Kentucky College of Law, Lexington, Kentucky
- Law Journal: Kentucky Law Journal, Associate Editor
- J.D.
PUBLISHED WORKS
- Social Media Evidence – Identifying, Gathering and Using Social Media in Litigation, Common Defense (Kentucky Defense Counsel, Inc.), Fall/Winter, 2013
- Identifying Biases, Testing Theories, and Evaluation Case, Common Defense (Kentucky Defense Counsel, Inc.), Spring/Summer , 2018
- A Penny for Your Thoughts, Bench and Bar Magazine (Kentucky Bar Association), September/October 2018
- Six Degrees (Now Feet) of Separation, Bench and Bar Magazine (Kentucky Bar Association), September/October 2020
REPRESENTATIVE CASES
- BPI, Inc. v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, 773 S.E.2d 647 (W.Va. 2015); American Towers LLC v. BPI, Inc., 130 F.Supp.3d 1024 (E.D. Ky. 2015)
- Love v. Beshear, 989 F.Supp.2d 536 (E.D. Ky. 2014) rev’d sub nom. DeBoer v. Snyder, 772 F.3d 388 (6th Cir. 2014), rev’d sub nom, Obergefil v. Hodges, 135 S.Ct.2584 (2015)
- Eric Thompson v. North American Stainless , 506 U.S. 390 (2011)
- Northup Properties, Inc. v. Chesapeake Appalachia, L.L.C., 567 F.3d 767 (6th Cir. 2009)
- Fastenal Co. v. Crawford, 609 F.Supp.2d 650 (E.D. Ky. 2009)
- Calor v. Ashland Hosp. Corp., 2010 WL 3374251 (Ky. 2010)
- AK Steel Corp. v. Commonwealth, 87 S.W.3d 15 (Ky. App. 2002)
- Clements v. North American Stainless, 277 F.Supp. 705 (E.D. Ky. 2001)
- Pennington v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., 104 F.Supp. 2d 710 (E.D. Ky. 2000)
PRESENTATIONS
- Top 10 Questions to Legal Counsel by HR Personnel, 2016, ACTC Workforce Solutions
- Ashland Alliance: COVID vaccines and questions in the workplace, 2021
- Ashland Alliance: Employment Law Lunch and Learn, 2017
- Top 10 Wage and Hour Mistakes, 2016, ACTC Workforce Solutions
- Top 10 Hiring and Firing Mistakes, 2016, ACTC Workforce Solutions
- Top 10 ADA Mistakes, ACTC Workforce Solutions, 2016
- Presentation on EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, FIVCO Reentry Council, 2016
- Employee Handbooks, 2015, ACTC Workforce Solutions
- Regulating Employee Conduct On and Off the Job, 2015, ACTC Workforce Solutions
- Social Networking in the Workplace, 2013, Ashland Alliance HR Series
- Employees and Applicants with Disabilities, 2013, Ashland Alliance HR Series
- Unemployment Claims, 2013, Ashland Alliance HR Series
- Employee Handbooks, 2013, Ashland Alliance HR Series
- Proper Classification of Workers, 2015, ACTC Workforce Solutions
- Interaction Between ADA and FMLA, 2015, Ashland Alliance HR Series
- Immigration Issues for Employers and Employees, 2014, Kentucky Bar Association, Kentucky Law Update, CLE Presentation
- Electronically Stored Information –Preservation Requirements…Tools to Preserve and Access It…Consequences of Spoliation, 2012, Kentucky Bar Assocation, CLE Presentation
- Eric Thompson v. North American Stainless, 2011 , Boyd County Bar Assocation
- Title VII’s Anti-Retaliation Provision and Third-Party Retaliation Claims, 2010, Federal Bar Assocation, CLE Presentation
- Social Networking Sites and What It Means to Your Client, 2010, CLE Presentation
- Employment Law Update: Third-Party Retaliation Claims and Social Networking, 2010, Federal Practice Seminar
- Speaker at Naturalization Proceeding, 2007, United States Direct Court, Eastern District of Kentucky, Ashland
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
- Kentucky Bar Association, CLE Commission, District 7 representative
- Boyd County Bar Association, Past Treasurer and Past President
- Kentucky Bar Association, Member
- Federal Bar Association, Member and Past Treasurer Kentucky Chapter
- Society for Human Resource Managers, Member
- Kentucky Defense Council, Member
PAST EMPLOYMENT POSITIONS
- U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky, Law Clerk (Hood)
- U. S. District Court, District of Ohio, Law Clerk (Holschuh)
Community Service
- Ashland Community and Technical College – Past Board of Directors
- Wildwood First Church of God – Past Elder
- Shelter of Hope, Past Board of Directors
- United States Magistrate Merit Selection Panel, Eastern District of Kentucky
- United Way of Northeast Kentucky, Past Board of Directors
- Sarah’s Place, Past Board of Directors
- Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Tri-State, Past Board of Directors
- Safe Harbor of Northeast Kentucky, Board of Directors
- Legal Aid of the Bluegrass, pro bono assignments