Charles B. Leuin

Overview

Charles is an accomplished first-chair trial lawyer and trusted employment counselor who focuses his practice on a range of complex employment and commercial litigation matters. His work encompasses restrictive covenant, trade secret and other intellectual property litigation, workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims, employment and whistleblower litigation, contract litigation and business disputes, wage-and-hour disputes, fiduciary litigation, and class action defense. He regularly represents management in disputes arising under Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA, the FMLA, the FLSA, and their state and local counterparts, whether brought as individual actions, multi-plaintiff matters, or class and collective proceedings.

He possesses wide-ranging trial and appellate experience and has appeared in state and federal courts throughout Illinois and across the nation, as well as before administrative agencies including the EEOC and state equivalents. Charles knows that his willingness and ability to stand up in front of a judge or jury to argue forcefully and effectively for his clients often is the best way to avoid litigation, to resolve it quickly and efficiently when it does occur, and to advance his clients’ interests when full-scale litigation is necessary.

In addition to his courtroom advocacy, Charles is a go-to strategic counselor for his clients, guiding them through the full range of workforce management challenges. He advises on talent acquisition and onboarding protocols, performance management and corrective action, and the development of employee handbooks and workplace policies. Charles also helps clients navigate wage-and-hour compliance, leave administration and reasonable accommodations, organizational restructurings and staff reductions. His counseling practice further extends to workplace investigations, prevention-oriented training programs, and oversight of the complete employment relationship lifespan from recruitment to separation. He also counsels clients on trade secret and other intellectual property protection and contracting practices. Charles functions as a standing and integrated employment law resource for companies across a variety of industries, delivering actionable, commercially-minded advice that helps his clients stay ahead of regulatory developments and maintain compliance with an increasingly complex web of federal, state, and local employment requirements. He regularly advises clients on employment and restrictive covenant-related considerations that arise in connection with corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.

Charles also advises on the preparation, negotiation, and enforcement of the full suite of employment-related agreements, including executive employment contracts, restrictive covenant arrangements, separation and transition agreements, and confidentiality and invention assignment agreements. He brings particular depth of experience to senior executive transitions and departures, and to the design of compensation and incentive structures that safeguard employer interests. Charles helps his clients address challenges at the intersection of business and law, including by anticipating and preventing problems and avoiding major disputes. His clients — spanning Fortune 500 corporations, middle-market companies, and high-growth enterprises across a broad array of industries — rely on his ability to pair aggressive courtroom advocacy with pragmatic day-to-day guidance, allowing them to address workforce issues before they escalate while standing ready to litigate decisively when the situation demands it.