Karla Soards

/Home/Workers Compensation Attorney: Columbus OH

A Law Firm Devoted to the Needs of Management
* Labor & Employment Law
* Education Law
* Workers' Compensation & OSHA

Our firm, consisting of fourteen lawyers, concentrates its practice in the labor, employment, OSHA and workers’ compensation areas representing employers only. We represent both private and public sector employers. Our education law practice is a significant component of the firm. We represent a broad spectrum of employers.

* Labor & Employment Law Practice

Our firm practices traditional management-side labor law, such as negotiations, arbitrations, union avoidance, unfair labor practice charges, and other traditional labor law matters. We also defend claims and lawsuits before state and federal courts and agencies on a variety of matters, including wrongful discharge and discrimination cases of all types under Title VII, the ADEA, ADA and parallel state laws. We counsel employers on wage and hour, COBRA, FMLA, ADA, plant closing-WARN Act issues, and personnel issues. Greg Scott, Don Scriven, Jim Stucko, Julie Martin, Tim Cowans and Bill Wahoff have considerable experience in private and public sector collective bargaining and arbitrations, and litigation. Richard Goldberg has considerable litigation experience. In addition to our extensive private sector practice, we represent counties, cities, school districts, Boards of MR/DD and other public entities.

* Education Law Practice

We have as broad an education law practice as any firm in the state, although we do not handle tax levy and bond proceedings. We represent management exclusively. Collective bargaining and grievance arbitration comprise about 30% of our work for boards of education. The rest involves special education matters, student discipline disputes, school-related constitutional issues, equal employment opportunity charges, unfair labor practice and representation proceedings before the State Employment Relations Board, workers' compensation and unemployment compensation claims, safety compliance counseling, school and employment-related litigation, school territorial transfer issues, tax issues, and general advice to school districts on a multitude of topics (such as Ohio's public records and sunshine laws). Partners who regularly handle public sector labor and employment matters, and education law matters include Greg Scott, Don Scriven, Julie Martin, Jim Stucko, Tim Cowans and Bill Wahoff.

* Workers' Compensation, OSHA & Intentional Tort Litigation Defense Practice

Our health & safety group contains three partners, Bill Wahoff, Tim Cowans and Rich Goldberg, who are Board Certified in Workers' Compensation by the Ohio State Bar Association Board, four associates, Karla Soards, Lacey Cain, Brad Howenstein and Jason Perry, four legal assistants, and three administrative assistants devoted to the practice. We have state-of-the-art computer capability, including email, computer research tools, such as CD-ROM for Ohio materials, Westlaw and LEXIS, desktop access to the Internet through high-speed lines and database capability. We regularly use OPEN and the Industrial Commission and Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation websites to access claims information. In the OSHA practice, immediate access to the Web allows us to review histories on the OSHA Website, as well as NIOSH and private sector materials.

Our attorneys regularly travel to and take workers' compensation hearings statewide at all sixteen district offices of the Ohio Industrial Commission. We currently have court cases pending in counties in Franklin, Montgomery, Clark, Coshocton, Tuscarawas, Williams, Washington, Hamilton, Lucas, Cuyahoga, Medina, Summit, Stark, Mahoning, Ashtabula, Scioto, Logan, Allen and many counties in between, in all regions of the state. Based in Columbus, we have excellent and regular access to the Self-Insured Section of the Bureau to informally or formally handle any issues that might arise, such as grant of coverage, mergers, renewal of coverage, special Adjudication Committee or self insured committees' hearings, and to manage responses to complaints and audits. We are special Workers' Compensation Counsel to the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, a statewide employer-lobbying group, one of the "Big Four," on legislation and regulatory issues. We provide our clients with on-site training of claims specialists, executives, middle managers or front-line supervisors, with a schedule to accommodate continuous operations.

In the OSHA arena, Bill Wahoff, Greg Scott and Tim Cowans have significant experience defending and counseling employers, with support from experienced associates. In particular, Bill Wahoff has negotiated agreements with OSHA Directorates in Washington, D.C. and defended citations in the airborne contaminants, lockout/tagout, machine guarding, egress, fire safety, safety programs, and other areas in Ohio, Texas and California (Cal/OSHA).

Ohio State Bar Association Certified Specialist - Ohio Workers' Compensation Law

Karla Soards
Scott, Scriven & Wahoff LLP
50 W Broad St #2500
Columbus OH 43215-5914
Tel: 614 222-8686
Fax: 614 222-8688
E-mail: karla@sswlaw.com

Ms. Soards' practice has been devoted to workers' compensation law. She graduated cum laude in 1991 from Ohio University with honors in English and Social Sciences. In 1997, she graduated from Capital University Law School, receiving special recognition in the area of Comparative Law. She has ten years of workers' compensations experience, having been previously employed as a third party claims adjuster and a legal assistant with a large defense firm. Ms. Soards is a member of the Ohio State and Columbus Bar Associates. She has represented employers in numerous administrative hearings.