Tahl Tyson is a respected authority on international employment law and an experienced U.S litigator. She also practices as a U.K. solicitor. She is a sought-after speaker on global workplace topics, ethics and compliance, and data privacy. 

Just prior to joining Littler Mendelson, Tahl was global employment counsel and a member of the HR leadership team for a global publicly traded company, where she advised on workplace issues spanning 40 countries. While resident in the company’s Paris office, she provided site leadership for the French subsidiary and had responsibility for all aspects of human resources and employment issues, including works council consultation and negotiations.

Tahl majored in Chinese studies at Yale and was among the earliest Westerners to study and teach in post-Mao China. She worked on China energy research as the recipient of a Congressionally-funded 3-year graduate degree fellowship at the East-West Center in Hawaii. In addition to China, she has also lived and worked in the U.K., Micronesia, Japan, and France.

Tahl’s litigation practice has included all contentious aspects of employment law, including non-competition and trade secrets litigation. She has defended employers in multi-million dollar individual and class action employment lawsuits, jury and bench trials, as well as, appellate argument to the Washington State and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals. She has been an arbitrator for the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), represented unionized employers in grievance arbitration, and represented parties in mediation of high stakes disputes.

Tahl provides pragmatic advice to multi-national clients based on her practical experience with a wide variety of international and cross-border matters. Examples include:

• Multi-jurisdictional legal compliance programs
• Cross-border internal investigations and whistleblower hotlines, related data privacy issues
• Global policies, templates, such as employment contracts
• New market expansions
• Employment law aspects of restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, out-sourcing and in-sourcing, and layoffs (including situations implicating Acquired Rights Directive and TUPE)
• Contingent worker programs and local compliance
• Performance management and conflict resolution in cross-border situations
• Training managers and HR on the basics of how to manage legally in new countries
• Cross-border non-compete and trade secrets issues

Tahl's pro bono experience includes serving as co-counsel with the Office of Public Defense of King County, Washington, in felony criminal cases, including 3 strikes; co-counsel with Washington Protection and Advocacy Services in a class action case brought on behalf of patients at Western State Hospital seeking constitutional standards of care; and co-counsel with Northwest Immigrant Rights Project on multiple deportation cases.

PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS

• Member, Employment Lawyer’s Association (ELA), United Kingdom
• Member, European Employment Lawyers Association (EELA)
• Member, International Bar Association
• Member, Labor and Employment Law / International Law sections - American Bar Association
• Member, International Practice / Labor and Employment Law sections - Washington State Bar Association
• Former board member, Washington State Hotel and Lodging Association
• Former board member, The Seattle Children’s Museum

RECOGNITION

• Awarded, Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rating
• Named, The Best Lawyers in America, 2013
• Named, Top Rated Lawyer® - International Law, The American Lawyer & Corporate Counsel, 2013
• Named, Best Lawyers in Labor Law - Seattle Business, Puget Sound, WA, 2013
• Recipient, Pro Bono Public Service Commendation - Washington State Bar Association, 2007