Editors

Edwin S. Hopson

is a member and former Chair of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP’s Labor and Employment Service Team, and is located in the Firm’s Louisville, Kentucky office.  He has been involved in the practice of labor and employment law since 1969.  He has handled traditional labor law matters for both private and public sector employers.  On a national and regional basis, he has handled a wide range of employment and labor law matters including employment discrimination cases, wrongful discharge and related tort cases, FMLA litigation, union organizing campaigns, NLRB unfair labor practice cases, collective bargaining negotiations, strike preparation/planning and injunction litigation, labor arbitrations, mediations, OSHA cases, and wage-hour matters. He began his career in 1969 as an Attorney in the Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor, in Washington, D.C., and in 1972 became a Field Attorney with the National Labor Relations Board, Region Five, in Baltimore, Maryland.  He returned to Louisville in 1974 and became associated with the Firm.  He received a J.D. Degree from the University of Louisville School of Law in 1969, and an LL.M. Degree (With Highest Honors), major in labor law, from George Washington University in 1971.

Debra H. Dawahare

is also a member and former Chair of Wyatt’s Labor & Employment Service Team. She concentrates her practice in the areas of employment law and general litigation.  She regularly counsels employers with regard to other employment issues, such as handbooks, policies, hiring, discipline and discharge, and is a frequent speaker on employment issues at bar association meetings and CLE seminars, as well as training seminars for managers, supervisors and the workforce, and to civic groups. She has written numerous articles on employment topics, and has written and edited employment-related books for the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.  She has been included for a number of years in the major attorney peer rating publications, including Chambers, Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law, where she was a member and Notes Editor of the Law Journal.