I’ve always enjoyed getting to know my clients and their businesses in depth so I can help them out of trouble and enable their success. The people I represent appreciate my easy-going and collaborative approach. I don’t dictate what they should an and shouldn’t do. Instead, I listen to them carefully, and together we work to build the strategies that best fit their needs and objectives.

Practice Overview

With five decades experience in labor and employment law and a previous career in human resources, Elmer White focuses on counseling executive and middle management professionals in a range of issues relating to unions, personnel policies, wage-and-hour conflicts, and compliance with hiring and anti-discrimination laws. Over the years he has represented companies in several fields, including health care, defense contracting, ground and air transportation, and manufacturing.

Elmer adeptly guides clients in labor-related matters, representing them before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Department of Labor (DOL), various state administrative agencies, and in federal and state courts. An outstanding and enthusiastic negotiator, he draws on deep experience in forging and administering collective bargaining agreements, as well as in navigating the workforce aspects of mergers and acquisitions and addressing union-formation activity.

Always looking to prevent problems from arising, Elmer relishes his trusted adviser role as a general counsel to many clients. By identifying and avoiding potential hazards, he helps them mitigate risk and stay out of litigation—including dreaded large class actions. Elmer enjoys meeting and interacting with people from many different backgrounds. His genial and affable personality facilitates his ability to build strong relationships that endure for years, and even decades.

Elmer’s clients appreciate his real-world, hands-on perspective. Prior to joining the firm in 1982, Elmer worked in personnel at the University of Virginia and then at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where he was the director of human resources. Elmer has lectured at these universities’ business schools and frequently presents management training seminars.