The city of Nashville has seen a massive influx in corporations and startups in the past several years amid a decade of tremendous growth. Some of the largest employers in Nashville include Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University, Nissan North America, HCA Healthcare, Inc., and Saint Thomas Health. As a result, the need for knowledgeable local employment law attorneys has never been higher.

Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight is one of the country’s preeminent plaintiff-side employment firms, and our legal team regularly represents clients against some of the most prominent companies in Tennessee and the United States.  As local counsel, we have roots in the Nashville community. As a sophisticated employment law team, we have a network of law offices around the country to assist us in managing large, complex cases, including class action lawsuits.

Our clients range from factory workers to C-suite executives, and come from a wide variety of industries and employers across the country, including large Fortune 500 companies and quasi-governmental entities like the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.

Practice Areas

Our Nashville office handles a wide variety of matters. Our employment litigation practice focuses on representing employees in these and other areas:

• Workplace discrimination, including race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, and national origin.
• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• Mismanagement of employee 401(k) and retirement plans
• Internal investigations
• Whistleblowing and retaliation wrongful termination
• Human rights abuses

Our Nashville office also handles a wide range of complex public interest litigations, most notably representing dozens of counties and cities across the nation in their claims against opioid manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, and pharmacy benefit managers.

Meet Our Local Team

Our Nashville team comprises multiple accomplished lawyers.

Judge Kevin Sharp is Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight’s Co-Vice Chairman and Co-Chair of the firm’s Public Interest Litigation Group. Prior to joining our firm, Kevin was appointed to the federal bench by President Obama and served on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee from May 2011 to April 2017, including three years as Chief Judge. His career is devoted to serving the public, including fighting harsh mandatory minimum federal sentences. He has put in extensive effort to exonerate Leonard Peltier, the Native American civil rights activist who was wrongfully convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975 on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation.

Nashville Managing Partner Leigh Anne St. Charles has been named to each Super Lawyers’ Mid-South Rising Stars list since 2020, was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Lawyers in Tennessee by the National Trial Lawyers Association, was recognized in the 2021 and 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America “Ones to Watch” in the field of Employment Law – Individuals, and was named a 2022 Rising Star of the Courtroom by Business Insider. With an extensive background in complex commercial litigation, Leigh Anne now focuses her practice on plaintiffs-side discrimination and harassment cases, as well as financial services matters. As part of her financial services practice, Leigh Anne represents classes of workers from around the country who have invested through their employer’s 401(k) plan in their claims of breach of fiduciary duty and 401(k) plan mismanagement.

Nashville Partner Jonathan Tepe is Co-Chair of the firm’s Public Interest Litigation Practice Group and the Chair of the firm’s Fellows and Junior Associates Program. Jonathan has been named to each Super Lawyers’ Mid-South Rising Stars list since 2022, each Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under – South list since 2023, the 2026 Best Lawyers Ones to Watch list, and Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment Lawyers. Jonathan focuses his practice on public interest litigation, civil rights and employment cases, and complex civil litigation, particularly the firm’s representation of dozens of counties and cities across the nation in their claims against opioid manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, and pharmacy benefit managers and a proposed class action on behalf of mistreated and abused disabled youth in the Tennessee juvenile justice system.

Senior Litigation Counsel Michael Lockman, Senior Litigation Counsel Kasi Wautlet, and Associate David McNamee work on a wide range of matters, including employment discrimination, financial services litigation, public interest litigation, and complex civil litigation.

Plaintiff’s Attorneys with Corporate Defense Counsel Experience

Most of our Tennessee team has prior experience working for large law firms that defend corporate clients. Our attorneys’ exposure to this side of the legal practice provides great insight into how corporate counsel approaches cases, and the strategies used to defend powerful entities. Our plaintiff’s attorneys know the laws that protect workers, and how to go head-to-head confidently and successfully on behalf of our clients.

Office Location

Our Midtown office is located in the heart of the Nashville, just one block up from Broadway, Nashville’s main thoroughfare.

Our building is connected to Renaissance Nashville Hotel and Fifth + Broadway, Nashville’s new city attraction with dining and shopping options. We are conveniently located near highways I-65, I-40, and I-24, as well as the James Robertson Parkway and Ellington Parkway.

Nearby are several suburban train lines, including:

• Wedgewood Avenue Station
• State Capitol Station
• 10th Avenue Station
• Riverfront Transit Stop

We are also on several public bus routes:

• 5th Ave N and the Arcade NB
• Union St and 7th Ave N EB
• 4th Ave N and Church St SB
• Broadway Ave and 9th Ave S WB

Parking options include on-street as well as convenient parking garages:

• SP+ Parking
• Premier Parking L&C Garage
• Nashville City Center Surface Parking Lot

Lastly, we are near a prominent local courthouse:

• Fred D Thompson Federal Building and Courthouse

Notable Cases

Our manpower and reach make us one of the go-to firms for particularly complex, large or high-profile claims. Some of our notable cases include:

• A proposed class action on behalf of mistreated and abused disabled youth in the Tennessee juvenile justice system in Disability Rights Tennessee, et al. v. The State of Tennessee, et al.
• $8.3 million in arbitration for plaintiff Dr. David Chen against the corporation he co-founded, InnoGrit.
• $2.1 million settlement of FMLA and disability discrimination claim for plaintiff Rob Wigington, the former CEO of Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.
• Representing dozens of local governments against several pharmaceutical companies, pharmacy benefit managers, distributors and retail pharmacies that contributed to the opioid epidemic.