Christine B. Hawes is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s Labor & Employment Group. Christine’s practice focuses on litigation of individual and class actions arising in all areas of labor and employment law, including:

• Wage-and-hour laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Service Contract Act, and state and local laws
• Title VII and state anti-discrimination laws
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act and related state statutes
• Federal and state whistleblower statutes, including the False Claims Act
• Alleged wrongful termination
• Non-competition agreements and other employee contracts
• Misappropriation of trade secrets claims

Christine also provides counseling to clients on a wide variety of employment issues, including personnel policies, non-competition/non-solicitation agreements, employee discipline, contract disputes, and alleged retaliation under the False Claims Act, Title VII, the FLSA, and state whistleblower statutes. Christine frequently advises clients on and conducts internal investigations that frequently address employment, ethics, and compliance issues.  Additionally, Christine assists clients with affirmative action compliance, preparing affirmative action plans, analyzing compensation practices, and providing counseling in connection with Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs audits.

Molly A. Jones is an Intellectual Property and Litigation counsel in Crowell & Moring’s San Francisco office. Her practice emphasizes patent, trademark, technology licensing, and other commercial disputes in a range of industries including software, biotechnology, commercial real estate, education, health care, and food and beverage. She has represented clients in matters in the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Districts of California, Eastern District of Texas, and California state courts. Molly has also second-chaired a trademark infringement trial in the Western District of Texas.

Molly earned her J.D., cum laude, from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where she was the executive symposium editor of the Hastings Law Journal and co-authored amicus curiae briefs in two landmark patent cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. While attending law school, Molly also externed at the Northern District of California and studied abroad at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea.

Laura Schwartz is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s Los Angeles office, where she is a member of the Commercial Litigation and White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement groups. Laura represents corporate and individual clients in high stakes litigation including healthcare fraud, intellectual property and trade secrets theft, data privacy, and related criminal investigations in state and federal courts. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies, multinational health care services and investment bank and financial services companies, university systems, and technology start-ups.

Stephen M. Byers is a partner in the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement Group and serves on the group’s steering committee. He is also a member of the firm’s Government Contracts Group and E-Discovery & Information Management Group. Mr. Byers’s practice involves counseling and representation of corporate and individual clients in all phases of white collar criminal and related civil matters, including: internal corporate investigations; federal grand jury, inspector general, civil enforcement and congressional investigations; and trials and appeals.

Mr. Byers’s practice focuses on matters involving procurement fraud, health care fraud and abuse, trade secrets theft, foreign bribery, computer crimes and cybersecurity, and antitrust conspiracies. He has extensive experience with the federal False Claims Act and qui tam litigation, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Economic Espionage Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In addition to defense of government investigations and prosecutions, Mr. Byers has represented corporate victims of trade secrets theft, cybercrime, and other offenses. For example, he represented a Fortune 100 U.S. company in parallel civil and criminal proceedings that resulted in a $275 million criminal restitution order against a foreign competitor upon its conviction for trade secrets theft.

Thomas P. Gies is a founding member of Crowell & Moring’s Labor & Employment Group. Tom has more than 35 years of experience in litigating employment disputes. Tom’s litigation experience includes five jury trials, two U.S. Supreme Court arguments, 18 federal appellate court arguments, and more than a hundred trial court and arbitration matters involving a wide range of labor and employment law issues, including traditional labor law, whistleblower retaliation, EEO claims and wage & hour class and collective actions. Tom also maintains an active compliance counseling practice, involving the full range of employment law issues facing U.S. employers. Tom’s traditional labor counseling practice has focused on helping companies develop and implement strategies in situations involving operational restructurings, facility closures, subcontracting of bargaining unit work, and work stoppages.