J. Madison PLC

Selected Matters & Press

Public litigation results, commentary, and scholarship that illustrate how we litigate for employees in Virginia and in federal forums. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome — every case depends on its own facts and law.

Selected matters

Illustrative public matters from our practice. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in your case.

Burke v. Mattis, No. 1:16-cv-1256 (E.D. Va. Alexandria Div.)

Retaliatory hostile work environment — federal jury verdict & injunction

After a seven-day jury trial in the Eastern District of Virginia, the jury found that the Defense Security Service subjected the plaintiff to a retaliatory hostile work environment under Title VII and the Rehabilitation Act after she filed a formal gender-discrimination complaint. The court later entered structural injunctive relief addressing EEO integrity. This was not a wrongful-termination case — the plaintiff remained employed; the verdict turned on retaliatory hostile environment.

Jury verdict on retaliatory hostile work environment (Title VII & Rehabilitation Act)
Post-verdict structural injunctive relief concerning EEO processes
Published fee award: Burke v. Mattis, 315 F. Supp. 3d 907 (E.D. Va. 2018) — $336,034.32
Covered in The Washington Post

Selected matters context Title VII retaliation hub

Keller v. Event Staging, No. 2:24-cv-288 (E.D. Va. Norfolk Div.)

Wage & hour / retaliation — court-approved EDVA resolution

Eastern District of Virginia wage-and-hour and retaliation matter involving entertainment and staging workers. The court approved a resolution after the employee-side record was organized in Cloud Counsel — privileged chronologies and contemporaneous pay records supporting FLSA and retaliation theories in EDVA.

Court-approved wage-and-hour and retaliation resolution (EDVA Norfolk Division)
Cloud Counsel used to organize the employee-side record before representation underwriting

Wage & hour practice What is Cloud Counsel?

Attorney advertising. The Burke matter is discussed from public court records and press coverage. Results vary. No two cases are alike.

Press & commentary

Short third-party mentions on topics that match our practice — federal EEO delay, religious accommodation, and cloud privilege.

“At the EEOC, harassment cases can languish for years.”
Federal Times2018
Quoted on federal-sector EEO delay — why contemporaneous evidence and early case-building matter before a hearing or right-to-sue.
Related coverage

The Humanist2017
Quoted in coverage of workplace religious practice and Title VII accommodation (including “Muslim employee wants to pray in office”).
Related coverage

The Verge2013
Quoted in “After PRISM, lawyers struggle to keep attorney-client privilege safe” — cloud storage and privilege themes that later informed Cloud Counsel.
Related coverage

Scholarship

Storing Documents in the Cloud: Toward an Evidentiary Privilege Protecting Papers and Effects Stored on the Internet

Jacob M. Small, George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal (2012). The article examines privilege and privacy when client materials move to cloud storage — the intellectual foundation for Cloud Counsel’s privileged case-file design.

How Cloud Counsel applies this work

Directories & speaking

National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) — speaking and membership
Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association (MWELA) — Board of Directors & Bench-Bar Committee (past service)
Justia profile and related public directories