Nicole S. LeFave concentrates her practice on the Fair Labor Standards Act and wage and hour class and collective action defense. In addition, she counsels employers on all aspects of wage and hour compliance. Nicole also defends employers on a variety of wage and hour, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and corporate whistleblower matters and advises on a broad range of employment matters, from hiring through termination. She has experience representing clients at the trial court level, on appeals, in arbitration and in administrative hearings both in Texas and nationwide.
Representative experience:
- Obtained victory for employer in FLSA collective action bench trial involving the Motor Carrier Act exemption
- Served as one of the lead attorneys on mass arbitration of single-claimant gig-economy misclassification claims involving more than 15,000 claimants
- Defeated a motion for conditional certification in proposed nationwide FLSA collective action against a Fortune 500 company
- Obtained complete summary judgment in favor of employer on single-plaintiff Title VII and FLSA matter
- Successfully defended a jury trial verdict in favor of employer in multiple-plaintiff discrimination case, obtaining affirmance from the Fifth Circuit
Nicole also serves as the Austin office’s pro bono liaison and enjoys finding opportunities to contribute to access to justice, including by advising local nonprofits on employment law matters.
Before joining Littler, Nicole practiced complex business litigation and employment law, representing corporations, nonprofit organizations and individuals on a wide range of matters on both the plaintiff and defense side.
Nicole also served as a law clerk for retired judge Hon. Gregg Costa, formerly a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas and Fifth Circuit Justice and the Hon. Mark Lane, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Texas. These experiences informed her perspective on federal trial court practice.