Sarah Ann Lannom

Sarah Lannom is a member of the Labor and Employment Team and has more than 25 years of experience in employment law.  Prior to joining the firm, Sarah served as Associate General Counsel at North Carolina State University and adds her experience working for a R1 public university to the firm’s Education and School Law Team.  

As an in-house university attorney, Sarah advised campus officials on compliance and policy development with respect to federal and state laws including Title VI, Title VII, Title IX, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FLSA, USERRA, Equal Pay Act, WARN and the State Human Resources Act.  She has extensive experience in drafting and reviewing athletic coach contracts and other employment agreements, assisting university administrators with challenging personnel issues and internal grievances, working with the Office of the Provost on faculty issues including faculty discipline, and providing advice to the Human Resources Division regarding hiring/recruitment, classification/compensation, benefits/leave, worker’s compensation, employee relations and training development. She worked closely with campus partners on equal opportunity issues and defended administrative complaints filed with external agencies such as the EEOC, DOL, and OCR. She has additional experience working with the University Police on public safety concerns as well as with the Violence Prevention and Threat Management program as legal advisor to the Employee Behavior Assessment Team. While Sarah’s primary area of practice is employment, she also has experience handling a variety of student issues including student complaints and concerns.

Sarah has considerable state and federal employment litigation experience, which she developed as an Assistant Attorney General at the North Carolina Department of Justice where she served as employment counsel for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. In addition, Sarah has conducted numerous trainings and presentations for internal stakeholders as well as for national, regional and local groups. 

Sarah’s work lends itself to dealing with complicated situations and assisting clients in making hard decisions whether involving faculty, staff or students. Her skill in providing cogent and sound legal counsel is designed to achieve leadership goals while limiting risk and meeting compliance obligations. Her ability to be a trusted adviser and zealous advocate lays the foundation for productive and positive client relationships.