Carly Mitchell

Carly represents employers in all aspects of employment counseling and litigation – including advising on compliance with a full range of federal and state employment statutes, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act. She provides counsel to companies on employment-related needs in connection with mergers & acquisitions, including private equity and other corporate transactions. Carly also assists clients with managing difficult employees, terminations, drafting hiring documents (including employment agreements and noncompete agreements), investigations of misconduct, developing and implementing personnel practices and procedures, managing employee leave and disability issues, and compliance with wage and hour laws. Carly also conducts employee and manager anti-harassment and anti-discrimination trainings. In addition, she has represented federal government contractors in Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP) audits.

Carly leads the Women’s Initiative in the firm’s DC office and previously served for many years as an office representative on Cooley’s associates committee. Carly serves on the board of Mindshare, an invitation-only network of CEOs and founders from promising emerging and high-growth technology and product companies in the Washington, DC, region.

Some of Carly’s recent speaking engagements include:

• Presenter, “Employee Terminations and Reductions in Force: Key Considerations and Strategies,” Elite HR Connections, January 2024
• Presenter, “East Coast and Midwest Legal Update,” Cooley HR Network 2022 webinar, October 2022
• Presenter, “Hybrid Work Is Here to Stay. Now What?,” with Pilot and Justworks, 2022
• Presenter, “Reimagining a Post-Pandemic Workplace,” Cooley webinar, May 2021

While at George Mason University School of Law, Carly served as associate research editor for the George Mason Law Review, president of the Virginia Bar Association Pro Bono Society and a writing fellow. She was selected by law school faculty to receive the ALI-ABA Scholarship and Leadership Award for her graduating class. During law school, she worked as a law clerk for the US Air Force Office of the General Counsel, Contractor Responsibility, focusing on contractor suspensions and debarments. Before attending law school, she worked as a paralegal at a Washington, DC, law firm.

Carly also maintains an active pro bono practice. She provides pro bono representation to a number of nonprofit employers in the Washington, DC, area. In 2013, she received Cooley’s Pro Bono Achievement Award for outstanding pro bono service related to her successful representation in immigration court of a Cameroonian woman suffering from severe mental illness.