Laura Pasqualone

Laura Pasqualone is a partner in the firm’s Labor and Employment and Litigation practice groups, practicing primarily in the areas of employment law and business litigation. She regularly advises ‎employers on compliance with a wide variety of federal, state, and local employment laws. She also provides emergency advice, preventative counseling, training, and ongoing employment guidance to human resources directors and in-house counsel. In addition, her practice consists of litigating cases involving claims of discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and breach of contract. Laura has significant experience in cases involving the enforceability of restrictive covenants, ‎trade secret misappropriation, and unfair competition. She regularly presents on employment law “hot topics” to hundreds of national and international employers and human resources ‎representatives.

Laura defends clients in litigation against claims brought under the Family and Medical ‎Leave Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Age Discrimination ‎in Employment Act. She has represented clients in both federal and state court, in arbitration, before the Equal ‎Employment Opportunity Commission, the Arizona Civil Rights Division, and the Arizona Office of ‎Administrative Hearings.

Recently, Laura defended a national employer as first chair in a case alleging constructive discharge and age discrimination. After moving for summary judgment, the employee agreed to walk away from the case and voluntarily dismiss all claims with prejudice. She also recently won summary judgment in U.S. district court on all claims by a former employee alleging retaliation, gender, and disability discrimination.

Laura has significant experience in cases involving the enforceability of restrictive covenants, ‎trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and breach of contract. In such cases, she often assists clients in ‎proceedings in which temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions are sought. She also ‎assists employers and businesses in drafting employment contracts, including non-compete and non-‎solicitation provisions for nationwide and international clients. 

Laura takes a proactive approach to counseling employers about ways to avoid costly litigation, manage employee performance, and make practical human resources decisions to help avoid or minimize wrongful termination, discrimination, disability, and other avoidable claims. She also helps her clients prepare and update employee handbooks, create social media usage policies, and implement effective performance management policies. In addition, she has conducted complex internal investigations for large public and private employers.

In addition to her broad human resources consulting experience, Laura regularly advises ‎employers regarding compliance with Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Act. She assists employers both in ‎drafting drug and alcohol testing policies that are compliant with Arizona law, as well as advising ‎employers on discipline and termination issues involving medical marijuana use.

Laura assists clients in maintaining compliance with Arizona’s Paid Sick Leave statute. She has drafted dozens of policies for employers to ensure compliance. She has also published several articles on the topic and was quoted in the Arizona Republic regarding the statute’s enactment.

Before joining Womble Bond Dickinson, Laura served as a law clerk for the Honorable Justice ‎A. John Pelander at the Arizona Supreme Court. She also served as an extern for the Honorable Judge ‎Earl H. Carroll at the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

Versatile and pragmatic in her approach, Laura is skilled at analyzing legal issues, anticipating potential risks, and developing rapid plans of action that provide solutions to her clients’ current and future challenges. As a driven problem solver, Laura applies a results-oriented, client-centric approach to each and every matter she is entrusted with by her clients. In her free time, Laura enjoys running, hiking the Arizona trails, and spending time with her family.