Ken Carlson is a partner with Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, one of the nation’s oldest labor and employment defense firms with offices in 17 states across the country. Ken is a senior litigator, mediator and occasional arbitrator whose legal practice is concentrated in virtually every aspect of employment law. Most of his practice now consists of serving as a mediator, especially in the areas of employment law, covenant not to compete/trade secret matters, FLSA and wage & hour (including collective and class actions), and ERISA issues. Ken also regularly consults with companies in how to avoid legal problems … Read more »
Ken Carlson is a partner with Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, one of the nation’s oldest labor and employment defense firms with offices in 17 states across the country. Ken is a senior litigator, mediator and occasional arbitrator whose legal practice is concentrated in virtually every aspect of employment law. Most of his practice now consists of serving as a mediator, especially in the areas of employment law, covenant not to compete/trade secret matters, FLSA and wage & hour (including collective and class actions), and ERISA issues. Ken also regularly consults with companies in how to avoid legal problems before they occur, and frequently conducts training on appropriate management and employee practices in the workplace.
Ken is a Fellow with the American Bar Foundation, and an adjunct professor at the Wake Forest University School of Law where he teaches courses in negotiation and trade secrets/unfair competition law, and for many years also taught trial practice and advanced trial practice. He has been a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars, and has published numerous articles and CLE materials on various employment law and ADR topics – from trade secrets and covenants not to compete, to mediating in a manner to help avoid impasse, and the pros and cons of employment law arbitration. Ken also authored The Road to Redemption: Saving North Carolina Covenant Not to Compete Law From Itself, Wake Forest Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law, Spring 2012, with an updated manuscript for the NC/SC Labor and Employment Law Conference in November 2024, Restrictive Covenant Enforcement and Litigation: A Landscape in Flux.
Ken received his J.D. degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law, where he served on the Wake Forest Law Review as co-editor of the Business Symposium, is a 1976 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and also holds a Master of Divinity from the Yale Divinity School at Yale University.
He and his wife Melanie have been married 47 years, and have three daughters, three sons-in-laws, and five grandchildren (so far!). He especially enjoys golf, hiking and anything outdoors, traveling, reading, theology, BBQ, cherry pie, ice cream and virtually any other dessert, playing relatively easy music on the trumpet, and simply spending time with family and good friends.
