Penn Payne is an experienced mediator of employment and commercial disputes, including claims of sexual and racial harassment and discrimination; age, disability, pregnancy, religious and national origin discrimination; breach of restrictive covenants; and breach of employment contracts. She has successfully mediated numerous employment cases, including cases referred directly by District Court judges. Because she is still an active litigator representing employers and because she formerly represented plaintiff/employees, she anticipates and understands, at an analytical and an intuitive level, the approaches and arguments of all parties in a mediation. She can then use that understanding to facilitate settlement. Penn is known for her fairness and ability to obtain the trust of each party. For example, she has successfully mediated sexual harassment claims brought against law firms and individual lawyers, despite the difficulties of mediating a case in which all or most of the participants were lawyers. In another instance, Penn conducted an investigation into allegations of race discrimination brought by a long-time employee against a technology company, and even though Penn concluded that there was no discrimination, the employee was so impressed with her fairness that he subsequently asked her represent him in another matter.

As well as being a member of Closure ADR’s panel of arbitrators, Penn is a member of the American Arbitration Association’s panel of employment and commercial arbitrators, and she arbitrates employment, contract and restrictive covenant cases throughout the Southeast. She previously served as an arbitrator for the Fulton County Superior Court arbitration program.

In addition to her mediation and arbitration practice, Penn has provided sound business judgment and zealous advocacy to her clients throughout her 25 years of litigating employment and business disputes. She also conducts internal investigations of employee complaints for corporations or their outside counsel.

Penn earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her law degree with distinction from Emory University School of Law, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and taught legal research and writing to first-year students.

She speaks regularly on employment-related topics, including presentations to the Corporate Counsel Institute and to the Georgia Chapter of the American Corporate Counsel Association about methods to facilitate early settlement of disputes. She recently presented a program at the annual Southeast conference of the Society for Human Resource Management on “How to Manage an Active Employee Who Has Filed an EEOC Charge or a Lawsuit Against Your Company” and has spoken about trial tactics in employment cases, psychiatric disabilities under the ADA, and current issues in employment law.

Penn is active in numerous professional, civic and charitable organizations. The District Judges for the Northern District of Georgia selected her to join the Board of the Federal Defender Program, and she currently is Vice-President of the Board and a member of the Executive Committee. She serves on the Boards of the Atlanta Bar Foundation and the Atlanta Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section, is a Master of the Lamar American Inn of Court, is on the Emory Law School Alumni Council and the State Bar’s Rules of Evidence Study Committee, and was on the City of Atlanta Charter Review Commission. Penn is a dedicated volunteer with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and has served as an officer and Executive Committee member of the International Board of Directors of this $160 million charitable organization.

Penn is recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyer in employment litigation in “The Guide to the Best Attorneys in Georgia,” published by Atlanta Magazine in 2004.