Chris Pape named to Committee of 100 YP

Lanier Ford shareholder Chris Pape has been named to the Huntsville Committee of 100 YP. (“YP” stands for young professionals.)

The Committee of 100 is a business organization of 240 business leaders and professionals—including 50 young professionals—committed to stimulating economic development, supporting high-quality public education, and encouraging cooperative local government. The committee works primarily in developing long-term strategies that promote economic vitality.

Members of the YP division are under 35 years of age. They receive training and mentoring as future political leaders, attend monthly programs on economic development and public education. They also are invited to attend quarterly meetings with the full membership, task force meetings, and lunch meetings with local elected leaders. They attend city council, school board, and county commission meetings and are mentored by members of the Committee of 100.

The primary focus of Mr. Pape’s practice is helping school boards to navigate complex employment, constitutional, and equity matters. In 2014, Mr. Pape began working, extensively, on Huntsville City Schools’ desegregation litigation, Hereford and the United States v. Huntsville City Board of Education. Mr. Pape was instrumental in litigating this matter in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Following the court’s order to mediate this matter, he was an integral part of the team of lawyers that represented the Huntsville City Board of Education in court-ordered mediation. As a member of that team, Mr. Pape helped craft the joint proposed consent order between the United States and the Huntsville City Board of Education. By participating in mediation and by presenting the proposed consent order to the court, Mr. Pape advises school boards about the design and implementation of equitable desegregation devices, such as school zone lines, magnet programs, and majority-to-minority transfer programs.

In addition, Mr. Pape’s practice involves guiding public and private entities through complex civil rights and employment issues. Mr. Pape regularly assists employers in reviewing and drafting employee handbooks for legal compliance, developing policies and procedures to prevent inconsistent or unlawful employment practices, counseling administrative employees to ensure implementation of procedures, and complying with federal and state laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the National Labor Relations Act, and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). In addition to serving in an advisory capacity, Mr. Pape’s practice consists of defending employers in litigation involving wage and hour claims; FMLA retaliation and discrimination claims; and employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender, religion, national origin, or disability.