The people behind our passion
Meet our team
Our employment law firm is made up of passionate, professional lawyers and staff dedicated to supporting clients with experience, expertise, and thoughtful legal advice. To learn more about our attorneys and staff, click the photos below.
James Radford
Justin Scott
Dan Werner
Grace Starling
Zachary Panter
Jake Knanishu
Tierra Monteiro
Elaine Woo
Edna Trutt
Opeyemi Shittu
Rachel Ibarra
Ila Wade
James Radford has represented hundreds of clients in federal and state court, Department of Labor unemployment hearings, private arbitrations, county and city personnel appeals, and before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). James’s expertise spans many aspects of employment law, including employment discrimination, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the rights of public employees, including due process and free speech rights, severance negotiations, and restrictive covenants.
James has experience representing clients who work in an array of positions across numerous sectors of the economy. This experience has taught him a great deal about the types of issues that create disputes between employees and employers across industries. He specializes in trying to resolve those disputes wherever possible, both for the well-being of the employee and the health of the employer. However, when those issues cannot be resolved, his experience in the courtroom comes to bear.
In addition to his work in employment law, James has served as Class Counsel in a number of complex class action lawsuits. He also has extensive knowledge in civil rights law, including constitutional torts and laws prohibiting discrimination in public services.
James is committed to developing a personal relationship with each individual client, understanding their specific need, and working to develop a strategy to attain the needed result.
Prior to launching his first private practice, James practiced for a number of years with Parks, Chesin and Walbert, P.C., one of Georgia’s most prestigious civil rights law firms. James also served as a staff attorney for the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where he advised the Court on a wide array of federal cases.
James received his undergraduate degree from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, where he graduated magna cum laude. He received his law degree from the University of Georgia, where he graduated cum laude. James served on the Editorial Board for the Georgia Law Review.
James is licensed to practice in the Superior Courts of Georgia, the Georgia Court of Appeals, the Georgia Supreme Court, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Georgia, and the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
James lives with his wife and children in the City of Decatur, Georgia.
Justin M. Scott is a founding partner of Radford Scott LLP. He represents individuals and companies in employment disputes, and provides ongoing employment advice to small businesses.
Justin has been an employment lawyer since 2007. His practice includes active civil litigation in federal and state court as well as negotiating and drafting employment contracts, separation and severance agreements, and employment policies. Justin additionally drafts and litigates the enforceability of restrictive covenants, including non-competition, non-solicitation and non-disclosure agreements.
Justin handles a wide-range of employment cases, including wage-and-hour cases involving claims of misclassification, unpaid overtime, unpaid minimum wage, off-the-clock claims, and other related allegations. He has substantial experience litigating such matters on a class, collective and individual basis, both on the plaintiff’s and defense side.
Often acting as lead counsel, Justin has litigated tens of class and collective actions and hundreds of individual employment actions.
He also frequently litigates harassment, discrimination, retaliation and failure-to accommodate claims under all major federal employment statutes, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) and the Equal Pay Act of 1963.
Featured Cases and Matters
Bargas v. Rite Aid Corp., 245 F.Supp.3d 1191 (C.D. Cal. 2017)
In a bellwether bench trial regarding the exempt status of Rite Aid Store Managers under California law, the court found that Rite Aid established the exemption when plaintiff performed the job of Store Manager and concluded that plaintiff was therefore exempt for the vast majority of workweeks at issue.
Yee v. City of Acworth, Georgia (N.D. Ga. 2014)
Client, a former police officer, claimed that the city violated the FMLA by terminating his employment in retaliation for his taking of FMLA leave to care for his wife and interfered with his rights under the FMLA. The city asked the court to enter summary judgment on Yee’s claims. The court denied the city’s motion in full, concluding, in part, that “a reasonable jury could determine that Plaintiff’s supervisors were looking for way to terminate Plaintiff for exercising his rights under the FMLA.”
Barnes v. K&B Louisiana Corp. d/b/a/ Rite Aid (E.D. La. 2011)
Following a jury trial, complete defense verdict for client on the plaintiff’s claims for racial discrimination.
Armstrong v. K&B Louisiana Corp. d/b/a Rite Aid, 488 F. App’x 779 (5th Cir. 2012)
Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for client on plaintiff’s retaliation claim, concluding that plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case of retaliation because he failed to prove that he engaged in protected activity.
Advantage Waypoint, LLC v. Baker (M.D. Tenn. 2018)
Obtained preliminary injunction for client prohibiting former executive from violating non-solicitation and non-disclosure clauses of employment contract.
Articles
- “Ninth Circuit: ‘Cash-in-Lieu Benefits’ Made to Employees Must Be Included in the Regular Rate of Pay for Overtime Compensation“, Zach Hutton, Justin Scott
Bender’s Labor & Employment Bulletin, 2017 - Expert Q&A: Labor and Employment Issues in the On-demand Economy, Thomas McInerney, Justin Scott
Thompson Reuters, Practical Law, 2015
Bar Associations
- Georgia State Bar
- California State Bar
Education
- Emory University School of Law – J.D. – 2007 with honors
- Haverford College – B.A. – 2004 History
Dan Werner is a bilingual (Spanish/English) lawyer with 25 years’ experience advocating for workers and victims of egregious civil rights abuses. He achieves positive results for his clients through careful listening, strategic thinking, and tenacious advocacy.
Dan began his career as an attorney representing farmworkers who toiled in orange groves, onion fields and apple orchards. He filed litigation, including several large class actions, against the agricultural employers who routinely underpaid and exploited his clients. Dan developed his cases through community legal education, outreach visits to rural labor camps, in-depth research, and considering all potential legal claims, including novel legal theories. His zealous representation resulted in dozens of damages awards and settlements benefitting thousands of migrant workers in Florida and New York. He also represented immigrant clients in civil rights litigation, including a precedent-setting case the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals called “a paradigmatic case of racial profiling.”
Dan went on to receive a prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship and co-founded the non-profit Workers’ Rights Law Center of New York. There, he continued to defend the labor and civil rights of exploited immigrant workers and day-laborers. Among his many ground-breaking cases, he successfully led the first-ever lawsuit for labor trafficking survivors under newly-enacted federal anti-trafficking protections. Through that case and others that followed, Dan developed important legal precedent and became a sought-after expert on civil litigation for trafficking survivors, publishing on the subject and lecturing in the United States and internationally. He also was a founding Board member of the non-profit Freedom Network USA, the preeminent human trafficking survivor advocacy organization.
In 2008, Dan joined the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) where he litigated complex workers’ rights and civil rights cases, built and led diverse teams, thought creatively about how to effectively serve immigrants in the South, and designed programming to win justice for the most isolated and deserving. For example, he spearheaded a seven-year labor trafficking lawsuit against a Mississippi-based shipyard operator on behalf of hundreds of pipefitters and welders recruited from India to help repair Gulf Coast oil rigs damaged during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The workers paid up to $25,000 for positions based on false promises of green cards. After a six-week jury trial, the first group of five plaintiffs was awarded $14 million in damages. To recognize this groundbreaking win, Dan and his team were named Public Justice Foundation’s 2015 Trial Lawyers of the Year. Most recently, Dan pioneered and directed SPLC’s Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative, an ambitious project aimed at providing high-quality representation to immigrants detained in the Deep South.
In addition to his work for clients, Dan has extensive experience with international consulting and policy advocacy. For example, as a volunteer with the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative, Dan advised and trained local governments and community leaders in Mongolia, China, and the Solomon Islands to develop a legal framework for combatting human trafficking and achieving justice for survivors of forced labor. He has testified about migrant labor exploitation in front of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and he traveled to the Russian Federation with representatives of the Obama Administration as part of a Bilateral Presidential Commission addressing forced labor and migration issues.
Dan also is a visiting instructor at Georgia State University, where he teaches Introduction to American Law.
Dan received his law degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law in 1996. He graduated from Grinnell College with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Spanish in 1991 and was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Laws in 2017. Dan is currently licensed to practice law in Georgia and New York. In his free time, Dan enjoys photography, caving, running, and cycling. He is proud to have finished multiple ultra-marathons, marathons, half-marathons, century rides, and triathlons. Dan lives in the Atlanta area with his wife, three children, and a cat.
Before entering the practice of law, Jake worked for several large corporations in the fields of healthcare IT and educational content development. His experiences there are what led him to the legal profession, and he now specializes in disability discrimination, the First Amendment, and administrative appeals.
Jake earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis, with minors in physics and classical studies. While in law school at the University of Georgia, he focused on anti-discrimination and constitutional theory. He was also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and the Executive Board of the American Constitution Society.
In his spare time, Jake takes care to enjoy the finer things in life: bar trivia, the Green Bay Packers, and long walks with a good dog.
Zack received his undergraduate degree in Latin American Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. He then participated in the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, a year-long program involving consulting projects in various employment sectors, including government, business, political, organized labor, media, and non-profit. His exposure to so many workplaces led him to pursue justice in the workplace.
Zack attended law school at Emory University, where he was on the Executive Board of the Moot Court Society and competed in the Williams Institute Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Competition. He also served as the Director of Know Your Rights, an organization that educates at-risk youth about their legal rights.
Zack graduated from Emory University with Honors and was awarded the State Bar of Georgia Employment Law Award. Outside of work, you will find Zack rooting for any and all Miami sports teams and planning his next trip.
Tierra M. Monteiro is an associate attorney at Radford Scott LLP. In 2010, Tierra graduated from Spelman College where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. Prior to beginning her legal career and joining the firm as a law clerk in May 2019, Tierra worked as a high school Chemistry Teacher, where she was awarded Teacher of the Year for the 2017-2018 school year.
Tierra graduated cum laude from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School in May 2022. During her time at AJMLS, Tierra served as the Law Journal’s Executive Managing Editor and was admitted to the Moot Court Advocacy Board. She additionally received several honors during law school, including the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Legal Writing, Research & Analysis I & III, Criminal Law, Trial Advocacy, Professional Responsibility, Constitutional Law II, and Remedies.
Tierra’s passion for employment law sparked while working as a law clerk for the firm. Since then, she has focused her practice exclusively on employment law and related matters. Tierra aims to ensure that each client she works with feels empowered, understood, and supported throughout the legal process.
In her spare time, Tierra enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, trying new restaurants, and spending time with her family, especially her nieces and nephews. On the weekends, Tierra can also be found on the golf course, perfecting her swing, a newfound obsession that she has recently found joy in.
Ila is the Office Manager at Radford Scott and does a little of everything to keep the office running smoothly.
Ila earned her Bachelors degree in Communications from Florida Atlantic University and her Masters in Professional Communications from Clemson University. She has previously worked for a humanitarian aid organization and cares deeply about fairness and serving under-served groups.
In her time off, Ila enjoys hiking with her family and dog, reading, and being active in her community.
Grace A. Starling is an employment and civil rights attorney at Radford Scott LLP. Grace advocates for fairness, equity, and respect in every workplace and has represented numerous employees in discrimination and retaliation cases. She believes in a client-centered approach to her practice, which allows her to make client-informed, strategic decisions that achieve the goals of her clients. Grace has been recognized by her peers as one of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America in two categories, Labor and Employment Law (Employee) and Litigation (Labor and Employment) for 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Grace has dedicated her practice to representing employees who have faced harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wage theft in their workplaces. Prior to representing employees, Grace worked as a staff attorney at the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta. Following her work with the Court, Grace has exclusively represented employees in employment and civil rights litigation throughout Georgia.
Grace graduated, magna cum laude, from Georgia State University College of Law, where she was in the top 10% of her class. She received several honors and awards during law school, including the Highest Pro Bono and Public Service Distinction, the Excellence in Professional Responsibility Award, the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Professional Responsibility, and the Best Brief Award in Lawyering Advocacy. Grace was a pupil in the Bleckley Inn of Court. As a member of the Georgia State University College of Law Moot Court Team, she competed in Emory’s Civil Rights and Liberties Moot Court Competition on the 2017 quarterfinalist team and on the 2018 semifinalist team.
As an advocate, Grace organized a grassroots movement at the state and national level focused on lobbying against legislation that would harm sexual assault/gender-based violence survivors. Grace has spoken nationally on the ways in which state and local governments can support survivors of sexual assault through policy. Grace continues to advocate for good public policy in Georgia at the local and state level. Grace has testified before the Georgia Legislature on multiple occasions throughout law school and as an attorney. During the 2022 session, Grace testified in favor of two bills that would expand employee rights in Georgia.
Grace is a proud alumna of Agnes Scott College where she graduated magna cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in both Economics and Art History. Grace also graduated from Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia. Grace remains active in the Marist and Agnes Scott communities. Grace volunteers her time at Agnes Scott and speaks with prospective and current students about her experience on campus and her work as an attorney. Grace also currently serves as a Vice President on the Executive Committee of the Marist Alumni Board and Co-Chair of the Service and Spirituality Committee. Grace was honored as the 2024 Alumni Award Recipient for the Father Hartnett Service Award for her exemplary service to Marist School. Grace is the youngest recipient in the history of the Award.
When Grace is not practicing law, she is likely to be found in her garden, reading a book, traveling, or spending time with her family, friends, and pups.
Bar Admissions
Georgia
- Georgia State and Superior Courts
- Georgia Court of Appeals
- Georgia Supreme Court
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
- United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia
Education
Georgia State University College of Law – J.D., magna cum laude
Agnes Scott College – B.A. in Economics and Art History, magna cum laude
Edna has been in the legal field for 12 years. She is bilingual (Spanish/English) and received her Paralegal certification from the University of Georgia. She is a Notary Signing Agent (NSA), and a member of the National Federation of Paralegal Association (NFPA).
In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking Julia Child recipes, spending time with her family, and picking up stray dogs.
Opeyemi joined the firm as a law clerk in March 2022. She contributes to our commitment to excellence in employment law by focusing on interviewing potential clients, gathering information, and working with attorneys to assess matters. Opeyemi earned an LLB Law Degree from the University of Reading, and qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. She enjoys spending time with her family and meditating.
Elaine Woo comes to Radford Scott LLP from the non-profit sector. She is passionate about lifting up those in under-served communities and is committed to listening to her clients’ needs and goals to create a client-centered approach to her practice.
Previously, Elaine represented student survivors of sexual assault in court and in university administrative proceedings as Legal Director of Atlanta Women for Equality. There, she also advocated for survivors in Georgia’s legislature, worked with local and national groups to effect policy change, and participated in community outreach programs. She has also clerked for The Honorable James S. Moody, Jr. of the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida and worked as a Public Defender case investigator.
Elaine holds a J.D. from Wake Forest School of Law, an M.A. from the University of California at Irvine, and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Rachel earned her Bachelors in Fine Arts from the University of Florida. She’s exhibited her work in many solo and group shows at galleries throughout the United States. She loves native plants of the South, amusement parks, and renovating old houses. She lives in Decatur with her husband and two kids.
