Patrick Coyle is a member of the firm's Labor & Employment Group. Mr. Coyle's practice consists primarily in litigating issues relating to the enforcement of restrictive covenants in employment agreements and to unlawful employment discrimination. Prior to joining Alston & Bird, Mr. Coyle served as a law clerk for the Honorable Henry M. Herlong, Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Mr. Coyle received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 1999, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He received his J.D. in 2004 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an executive editor of the Journal of Law and Politics. While in law school, Mr. Coyle was a recipient of the Bracewell & Patterson Oral Advocacy Award and served as a summer intern to the Honorable William W. Wilkins, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Coyle is a member of the State Bars of Georgia and South Carolina. He is also admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the District of South Carolina and for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia.
- Successfully argued pretrial motions in federal and state court, including motions for temporary injunction in federal cases involving alleged trade secret misappropriation.
- Deposition experience in federal and state court proceedings, including taking and defending defendants' depositions, taking a plaintiff's deposition and defending the deposition of a third-party witness.
- Successfully mediated cases involving employee/employer disputes, achieving favorable settlements for clients and minimizing future risks.
- Represented clients in onsite investigations by federal agencies (Department of Labor and EEOC) to ensure compliance with federal wage and hour legislation and anti-discrimination statutes.
- Extensive trial court pleadings drafting experience, including complaints and answers, dispositive motions and non-dispositive motions, and discovery-related pleadings.
- Appellate brief drafting experience in federal and state courts of appeal.
- Coordinated document reviews, including supervising a review team in completing a comprehensive review of tens of thousands of pages in a complex civil matter.
- Conducted numerous due diligence reviews to assist corporate clients in appropriately allocating post-closing risks relating to labor and employment issues.
-
This advisory discusses the background and implications of the September 7, 2012, decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the “Board”) that held that an employer’s social media policy prohibiting statements that “damage the Company, defame any individual or damage any person’s reputation” violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and that employees would reasonably construe the policy to restrict certain protected concerted activities, namely communications, regarding the employer’s treatment of its employees.
September 21, 2012
Advisories
-
Summer 2012
Publications
-
Summer 2011
Publications