R. Lawrence Ashe, Jr.

Lawrence Ashe is completing his 41st year of advising on and litigating employment law and civil rights matters. He is nationally recognized for his class-action and test validation experience and has been acclaimed by the National Law Journal as the “Dean of the Management Class Action Bar.” He has tried more employment and employment selection class actions to judgment than any other management lawyer in the country, including some of the largest cases tried to date.

His past honors and offices include the Anti-Defamation League’s first Judge Elbert Tuttle Distinguished Jurisprudence Award in 1998, induction as a Fellow into both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, Chair of the EEO Law Committee of the Defense Research Institute and founding director of the successor American Employment Law Council, and Management Chair of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section’s EEO Committee.

Lawrence graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University (1962), cum laude from Harvard Law School (1967), and is admitted to practice in Georgia and the District of Columbia, as well as numerous federal courts around the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Lawrence is the Northern District of Georgia’s representative on the Lawyer Conduct and Discipline Committee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (2001-), having previously served on the Court Disciplinary Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Lawrence’s civil rights practice is 10-15% representation of plaintiffs and the balance defendants. Test validity issues are over 25% of his practice.

In March 2008 Lawrence was selected by Lawdragon & Human Resource Executive as one of "The Nation's 50 Most Powerful Employment Attorneys" for " The Best Defense." He was the only non-large-law-firm/entity attorney so selected.

Lawrence was a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia for employment and civil rights law (1980-1997). Lawrence has been President and a Director of the Atlanta Urban League.

Lawrence is a Master, Bleckley Inn of Court, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia (1990-) and remains an active participant and member in various professional organizations and civic activities, including Girls, Inc. (formerly Girls Clubs of America), Council Member of the Harvard Law School Association (1994-98, 1999-) and its Southeastern Regional Representative (1999-), the Leadership Giving Executive Committee of the United Way of Greater Atlanta, and the Boards of the National Council for Research on Women (2007-) and the Piedmont Park Conservancy (2005-). He served on active duty in the U.S. Navy on a destroyer, 1962-64, and received his honorable discharge as a Lieutenant, USNR.

Lawrence is married to Georgia State Representative Kathy B. Ashe, and they are parents of Robert L. Ashe, III and Sarah Ashe Wood.

Representative Experience

  • 95% of nearly forty-one years of law practice has been in jury and non-jury civil litigation, focusing on employment, labor and civil rights matters. National employment and discrimination law practice; approximately 90% defendant representation and 10% plaintiff.
  • Lead trial counsel in some of the largest class action employment and other discrimination cases actually tried to date, as well as numerous individual cases. Has averaged three trials each year and a class action trial every three years.

Professional Organizations and Memberships

  • State Bar of Georgia
  • District of Columbia Bar
  • Gate City Bar Association.
  • Atlanta Bar Association.
  • American Employment Law Council.
  • Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers.
  • Fellow, College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.
  • Court Disciplinary, USDC, N.D. Ga. (1992-1996).
  • N.D. Ga. Member of the Committee on Lawyer Qualifications and Conduct, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (2001 – to date).
  • Master, Bleckley Inn of Court (1990 – to date).

Civic Involvement and Leadership

  • Board, Piedmont Park Conservancy.
  • Chair, Mayor’s Committee for Atlanta City Attorney Selection (2002 and 2006).
  • Chair, Ivan Allen Society, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta (2006-07), and Campaign Cabinet (2008).
  • President, Atlanta Urban League (1977 – 80).
  • Anti-Defamation League’s first Judge Elbert Tuttle Distinguished Jurisprudence Award (1998).