Meeting/Event Information

Register fo rthe January 21, 2025 Lunch Presentation:  Forecasting the Future:  Labor & Employment Law Developments Under the New Administration presented by Ken Carlson

Learning Objectives:

More information to come

Ken Carlson is a partner with Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, one of the nation’s oldest labor and employment defense firms with offices in 17 states across the country.  Ken is a senior litigator, mediator and occasional arbitrator whose legal practice is concentrated in virtually every aspect of employment law.  Most of his practice now consists of serving as a mediator, especially in the areas of employment law, covenant not to compete/trade secret matters, FLSA and wage & hour (including collective and class actions), and ERISA issues.  Ken also regularly consults with companies in how to avoid legal problems before they occur, and frequently conducts training on appropriate management and employee practices in the workplace.

Among other awards and recognitions, Ken is consistently named to Business North Carolina’s annual “Legal Elite”, to the list of North Carolina “Super Lawyers,” and to the Best Lawyers in America for labor & employment law and/or alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”).  He has repeatedly been named the Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” in alternative dispute resolution for North Carolina or the Winston-Salem/Greensboro metropolitan area, serves on the NC Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Council, and is a former chair of the Dispute Resolution Section of the NCBA.

Ken is a Fellow with the American Bar Foundation, and an adjunct professor at the Wake Forest University School of Law where he teaches courses in negotiation and trade secrets / unfair competition law, and for many years also taught trial practice and advanced trial practice. He has been a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars, and has published numerous articles and CLE materials on various employment law and ADR topics – from trade secrets and covenants not to compete, to mediating in a manner to help avoid impasse, and the pros and cons of employment law arbitration.  Ken also authored The Road to Redemption: Saving North Carolina Covenant Not to Compete Law From Itself, Wake Forest Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law, Spring 2012.

Ken received his J.D. degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law, is a 1976 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and also holds a Master of Divinity from Yale University.  He is active in the community, and currently serves as president of Scouting America’s Old Hickory Council, on the Advisory Board of The Salvation Army of Greater Winston-Salem, and on the Advisory Board of the WS/FC Schools CTE Business Advisory Board.  He is also a long-time adult Sunday School teacher and an active member of Centenary United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem.  Ken and his wife Melanie have been married 45 years, and have three daughters, three sons-in-laws, and five grandchildren (so far!).  He especially enjoys golf, hiking, camping, reading, writing, traveling, BBQ, cherry pie and virtually any other dessert, playing relatively easy music on his trumpet, and simply spending time with family and good friends.