Lisa’s client-centered law practice includes advice, counseling, and litigation in all aspects of labor and employment law as well as general business law advice, document drafting and litigation of business disputes. She also utilizes her expertise in legal research and writing and knowledge of the appellate process to provide top-notch representation in civil appeals in state and federal courts and administrative agencies. Most recently, Lisa became registered through the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution as a mediator and arbitrator, and she brings her wide range of legal experience and her ability to see and understand all sides of a dispute to assist other parties and their attorneys with resolution out of court.
Lisa’s law-practice philosophy begins with developing personal client relationships, whether they are owners/operators of small or mid-sized businesses, in-house general counsel or human resources professionals in large corporations, or individuals. She learns what the client needs and understands their goals, then applies careful, well-informed legal analysis to bring about the best possible result, whether advising on compliance and decision-making or resolving disputes through trial or appellate litigation. Although Lisa’s approach is collaborative and practical, her competitive nature fuels her desire to achieve victory in whatever form that may take given the context of the legal matter at hand. She is a tenacious litigator and skilled negotiator when the circumstances call for it, and she demands personal perfection in all aspects of her law practice, while priding herself on maintaining utmost professionalism at all times.
Prior Experience
Prior to partnering with John to form Stembridge Taylor in 2021, Lisa operated her own law firm for nearly six years, providing many of the same services that she now brings to her partnership. She began her career as an associate in the labor and employment group at AmLaw100 firm Alston & Bird LLP, where she represented Fortune 500 companies in a wide variety of employment and labor law matters. Although her future at the firm was bright, Lisa heeded the call to teach when the opportunity arose and spent twelve years teaching Employment Law and Federal Civil Procedure at an ABA-accredited law school, where she earned tenure and fostered her love of research and writing by conceiving and publishing five major law review articles addressing novel legal issues that lie at the intersection of procedure and employment law.
Personal
Lisa and her husband Brent live in Oconee County, Georgia (just outside Athens) and have four children – one navigating life as an adult and three in middle and high school. She and Brent share a love of fitness and athletic competition, which they currently fulfill through a CrossFit-style gym program along with regular running and biking. They have competed together in a number of regional and national running and triathlon races, including the esteemed and historic Boston Marathon. They currently fit in what training they can in between shuttling their kids to various activities and sports practices, and cheering them on in football, basketball, baseball, mountain biking, golf, and soccer games/matches/races, among other things. They are fans of the Georgia Bulldogs, the Atlanta Falcons, and whatever team their kids are playing/competing on each day. Brent is an avid entrepreneur, running three businesses. In their “spare” time they enjoy travel, skiing (on water or snow), walking their two COVID-shutdown dogs (a rescue mix and a Goldendoodle), fine (or reasonably priced) wines, and spending time with friends and family.
Community and Volunteer Activities
- Member, Athens First United Methodist Church (2016-present)
Children’s Sunday School Volunteer, Athens First United Methodist Church (2016-present) - Chair, Conyers First United Methodist Church Preschool Advisory Board (2012-2015)
- Conyers First United Methodist Church Board of Stewards (2010-2015)
- Children’s Advocacy Team, Conyers First United Methodist Church (2008-2010)
- Steering Committee, Pave the Path Events (10K, 5K & Metric Century) (2007-2013)
- Board of Directors, Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta (2001-2006)
Events and Speaking Engagements
- The Employment Law Cases of the Supreme Court’s 2014 Term: Who Were the Winners? And Who Were the Losers?, 2015 Supreme Court Update, a program of the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (with Cheryl B. Legare) (October 22, 2015).
- A Marked Departure from Prior Pro-Employee Trends: The Title VII Decisions of the Supreme Court’s 2012 Term, 2013 Supreme Court Update, a program of the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (October 24, 2013).
- Do the Employment-Law Dark Horses of The Supreme Court’s 2010 Term Reflect a Pro-Employee Bent on the Roberts Court?: Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., Thompson v. North American Stainless, L.P., and Staub v. Proctor Hospital — 2011 Supreme Court Update, a program of the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (October 27, 2011).
- Parsing Supreme Court Dicta to Adjudicate Non-Workplace Harms, a presentation to the Board of Directors of Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (Spring 2009).
- A Vague and Subjective Standard with Impractical Effects: A Proposalfor Congressional Intervention After Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White, a presentation to the faculty of Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (Spring 2007)
Books and Publications
- The Times They Are A-Changin’: Shifting Norms and Employee Privacy in the Technological Era, 15 Minn. J. L., Sci. & Tech. 949 (2014).
- The Pro-Employee Bent of the Roberts Court , 79 Tenn. L. Rev. 803 (2012).
- Untangling the Web Spun by Title VII’s Referral and Deferral Scheme, 59 Catholic U. L. Rev. 427 (2010).
- Parsing Supreme Court Dicta to Adjudicate Non-Workplace Harms, 57 Drake L. Rev. 75 (2008).
- A Vague and Subjective Standard with Impractical Effects: A Proposalfor Congressional Intervention After Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White, 9 U. Pa. J. Lab. & Emp. L. 533 (2006).
- Note, Protection from Age Discrimination for State Employees: Abrogation of Eleventh Amendment Sovereign Immunity in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 33 Ga. L. Rev. 541 (1999) (published as a student)