Thomas J. "Tom" Sawyer

Throughout his more than 30-year career, Tom has represented employers in a broad spectrum of employment matters, including wage and hour, discrimination, and employee termination. He is known particularly for his employee defection work, including drafting and enforcing non-competes and other employment-based restrictive covenants, and litigating related contract, fiduciary duty, trade secret, tortious interference, conspiracy, and unfair competition disputes.

Tom’s clients include national and international companies, as well as numerous local companies based in the Washington, D.C. area. He has particularly deep experience counseling technology and government contracting companies on employment issues and representing them in related litigation.

Prior to joining the Firm, Tom was the head of the Labor & Employment practice of an 1,100-attorney, international law firm and the co-founding partner of its Northern Virginia office.

Tom has long been recognized as a leading employment lawyer, including by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, International Who’s Who of Management Labour & Employment Lawyers, and Martindale-Hubbell. He is also regularly asked to speak on employee defection and other employment law topics by law and industry groups, including the American Bar Association, Association for Corporate Counsel, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Corporate Counsel Association.