Carla N. Murphy practices in the area of employment law and litigation. Ms. Murphy provides advice to employers in various industries concerning hiring, wage-and-hour issues, disciplinary action, due diligence reviews, family and medical leave laws (e.g., FMLA), disability accommodation laws (e.g., ADA), discrimination, harassment, retaliation, termination, competition, privacy and other business-related torts.  She also provides management training and offers litigation avoidance advice to employers, encouraging the development of employment policies and agreements, which includes employee handbooks, arbitration agreements, non-competition and trade secret agreements, employment contracts, and separation and severance agreements. Ms. Murphy has successfully defended numerous clients in business and employment-related suits before state and federal courts and before administrative agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. Ms. Murphy’s litigation experience also includes work on a variety of complex maritime, commercial and construction cases. Her maritime practice includes representation of clients in large international matters defending against claims of unseaworthiness, maintenance and cure, violation of the Seaman’s Wage Act, and negligence under general maritime law as well as the Jones Act.

As reflected in her more than 1,000-page publication, Maryland Employment Law Forms and Practice Manual, Ms. Murphy offers an especially practical focus as she counsels clients on the wide range of day-to-day legal issues relating to the employee/employer relationship.  She also applies her experience from presiding over disciplinary and post-termination cases as a part-time Hearing Officer for the Baltimore City Civil Service Commission to effectively represent her clients in alternative dispute resolution and litigation matters.

Ms. Murphy is a 2000 graduate, with honors, of the University of Maryland School of Law, where she was associate editor of the Journal of Health Care Law & Policy, and a summa cum laude graduate of Lafayette College.