Paul DeCamp, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC office, was quoted in Bloomberg BNA, in “Workplace Lawyers Race Against the Trump Clock,” by Rebecca Greenfield.

Following is an excerpt:

While employers across America paid a record amount in settlements for workplace violations last year, don’t expect it to be the beginning of a trend. Think of it more as the storm before the calm, as labor lawyers rush to lock in payouts ahead of a shifting legal landscape.

Settlements from the 10 biggest class-action lawsuits reached a record $2.72 billion in 2017, the highest amount since the law firm Seyfarth Shaw began cataloging litigation accords in 2003. Cases filed by federal agencies empowered to sue over discrimination and hour, wage, and safety violations were among the most prominent in a litigation sector also filled with private practitioners seeking to recover damages on behalf of employees. …

The prospect of a more business friendly administration has changed their tactics, company lawyers said. President Donald Trump took office a year ago, but the U.S. Labor Department, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and other government agencies that litigate workers’ cases have been slow to staff up. In the meantime, lawyers in and out of government have been scrambling to get as much as they could for workers while they can.

“I think that what we see is a race to settle,” said Paul DeCamp a lawyer at Epstein Becker & Green who represents employers. “I’ve seen it in my practice. Cases that plaintiffs’ counsel felt very strongly about and seemed more bullish and willing to go to trial, since the election they were more eager to settle those cases.”

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