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 counsels companies on employment-related matters in connection with mergers and 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. She also conducts employee and manager anti-harassment and anti-discrimination trainings. In addition, Carly has represented federal government contractors in Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP) audits.

Carly co-chairs Cooley’s Women’s Initiative and previously served for many years as an office representative on the firm’s associates committee. She also 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.

Carly’s recent speaking engagements include:

• Presenter, “CooleyREG Talks: US Election Implications Session 5: US Election Implications for Employment,” Cooley webinar, February 2025
• Presenter, “HR Network 2024: US Legal Update – Wage and Hour Essentials, Pay Equity, and More,” Cooley webinar, October 2024
• Presenter, “Employee Terminations and Reductions in Force: Key Considerations and Strategies,” Elite HR Connections webinar, January 2024
• Presenter, “Webinar Series HR Network 2022 – East Coast and Midwest Legal Update,” Cooley 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’s Antonin Scalia Law School, 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 Contractor Responsibility and Conflict Resolution Division of the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force, focusing on contractor suspensions and debarments. Before attending law school, she worked as a paralegal at a Washington, DC, law firm.

Carly maintains an active pro bono practice, providing 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 of a Cameroonian woman suffering from severe mental illness in immigration court.