Winston & Strawn Adds High Profile Labor and Employment Partner, Wood W. Lay, to Its Charlotte Office

CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Winston & Strawn LLP announced today that prominent labor and employment attorney Wood W. (Woody) Lay has joined the firm's Charlotte office from Hunton & Williams LLP, where he headed that firm's Charlotte labor and employment law practice.  Lay's diverse practice focuses on representing and advising employers in matters involving the full range of labor and employment law issues with an emphasis on employment, ERISA, non-competition and trade secret litigation.  His significant litigation experience also includes the handling of complex commercial disputes and business tort claims for a number of Fortune 500 companies.  

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"We are extremely pleased that Woody has joined Winston & Strawn," said Dean Warren, managing partner of the firm's Charlotte office.  "He is a highly regarded labor and employment lawyer with whom we are proud to be associated, and we strongly believe that our corporate clients in the southeast region will see his arrival as a welcome addition to the high-profile litigation capabilities and exceptional corporate experience we already have in place in Charlotte."

Added Rex Sessions, chair of Winston's labor and employment relations department, "Many of our corporate clients are located in the southeast or do business there, and we believe that Woody's practice in Charlotte will add to our capacity to better serve them in that part of the country."

Winston & Strawn entered the Charlotte market in January 2008 with six partners.  In the last two years, the office has grown to nearly 30 attorneys specializing in corporate, finance, litigation, labor and environmental law.

"The outstanding reputation and platform of Winston & Strawn, its commitment to expansion in North Carolina and beyond, and its representation of highly sophisticated corporate clients are all very attractive to me," said Lay.  "The strength of Winston's labor and employment practice and its long history of serving companies in a wide variety of  industries provide an excellent match for my client base and skills."

Lay earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and his juris doctorate from Washington and Lee University School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Washington and Lee Law Review and graduated cum laude as well as Order of the Coif.  He then served as a law clerk for the Hon. Walter E. Hoffman, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia.

Winston & Strawn LLP is an international commercial law firm with 14 offices in America, Asia and Europe.  More information about the firm is available at www.winston.com.

SOURCE Winston & Strawn LLP