Jourdan E. Brooks, Esq.

General Law Office : Employment Law Practice Group (ELPG)

• Provides comprehensive legal advice to agency management officials in various areas of administrative and employment law, involving Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Family Medical Leave Act and Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.
• Represents the Agency in complex administrative proceedings before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), with high success rate which resulted in significant savings for the Agency.
• Independently analyzes and synthesizes complex legal issues and develops effective and proven legal strategies and arguments for hearings.
• Drafts comprehensive legal documents to include pleadings in District Court proceedings, motions to dismiss, motion for summary judgment and discovery responses and requests for numerous, complex employment matters.
• Counsels clients on highly complex and unique legal matters and advises clients across the Agency on risk management strategies to minimize exposure to litigation liabilities in employment related matters.
• Negotiates favorable settlements for clients, minimizing litigation costs and time spent in court.
• Manages complex caseloads efficiently by prioritizing tasks and keeping organized records of case materials.

General Law office: Information Management Practice Group

• Provides legal advice to Agency stakeholders on nuanced issues involving the Privacy Act of 1974.
• Reviews SORN's draft for legal sufficiency to ensure compliance with the varied requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, to include exceptions to disclosures, such as routine uses, to prevent unlawful disclosures of personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive personally identifiable information (SPII).
• Provides cross-practice group, subject matter expertise in matters involving overlapping employment related matters and the Privacy Act of 1974.

Anti-Racism and DEIA Leadership

• Serves as a lead member of the Anti-Racism Dialogue Committee where I have presented on various Diversity, Equity and Inclusion topics, to include racial microaggressions, redlining, and discriminatory racial covenants.
• Serves in a leadership capacity as a member of the Executive Committee of the Anti-Racism Advisory Committee (ARAC), which includes members from various practice groups within OGC. Also serves as a member of the Education Subcommittee of ARAC, which is a group uniquely charged with educating OGC on varied anti-racism and DEIA topics.

• Litigated charges of discrimination before the County Human Relations Commission and mediates settlements on behalf of County agencies.
  
• Prepared position statements opposing EEOC, MCCR and the Prince George's County Human Relations Commission charges against the County.
• Regularly provided high quality advice to County agencies and high level officials on pressing legal issues such as ethical misconduct, prohibited personnel practices, health benefits questions, labor law and union contract interpretation, permitting and zoning issues and effectively avoided numerous costly lawsuits.
• Advice ranged from ADA reasonable accommodation requests, FMLA requests and disputes, failure to promote - competitive promotional examinations, and include matters unrelated to personnel such as subpoenas and MPIA's.
• Routinely provided advice to agencies regarding disputes over collective bargaining agreements (CBA's), unfair labor practices (ULP's) and grievances filed as a result of the aforementioned disputes.
• I also provided advice to public safety agencies on best practices in applying their governing procedures.
• Extensive experience litigating Administrative Trial Boards; Litigates employee disciplinary and adverse action cases before various Public Safety Administrative Trial Boards
• Advised County Boards, Commissions, and Quasi-Judicial Bodies, including Animal Control Commission, Taxi Cab Board, and Nuisance and Abatement, by rendering procedural and substantive guidance during the commission of meetings, hearings and deliberations.
• Represented the County in appellate litigation by writing motions and briefs and presenting oral arguments, including routine petition for Judicial Review, as well as appeals to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals involving more complex, novel legal issues.
• I have maintained a high rate of success in all appeals handled on behalf of the County.
• Specially assigned to high profile personnel and civil litigation actions, including cases involving high-level government officials.
• Independently handled all aspects of each case including conducting discovery, responding to requests for interrogatories, production of documents and admissions, assessing evidence, drafting pleadings, filing and responding to motions, effectively presenting evidence and argument at hearings and trials, submitting post-trial briefs, and negotiating settlements when necessary.
• Rendered effective legal guidance through oral and written opinions on the construction or interpretation of the law as it affects various Departments within the County.
• Responded to complex factual and legal questions, providing effective representation on an extremely broad array of issues.
• Engaged in litigation, development and review of arbitration agreements, collective bargaining agreements and client discussions regarding the aforesaid.
• Reviewed documents for legal sufficiency to ensure compliance with applicable laws County, State and Federal laws.
• Specially assigned to research and advise on novel Code Enforcement actions involving AirBnB's. The research and advice I provided was utilized in drafting legislation regarding the regulation of AirBnB's as well as utilized in providing guidance to Code and Inspection Enforcement Officers who are charged with enforcing the provision.
• Reviewed and redacted a high volume of FOIA/MPIA requests, with demonstrated attention to detail

• Investigated complaints of discrimination, consulted with attorneys, planned and conducted fact-finding studies, conducted interviews and conferences with complainants, and their representatives, witnesses, and law enforcement officers to obtain additional information.
  
  • Prepared Reports of Investigation and Letters of Recommendation based on the evidence collected during my investigation and rendered a recommendation to the Executive Director
• Prepared the action plan on Fair Housing Choices for Prince George’s County and serves as the point of contact for Hate Crime reports.
  
• Processed and responded to Maryland Public Information Act requests to the Commission. 
  • Prepared litigation and presented cases on appeal to the Human Relation Commissioners.
• Served as the liaison for the Prince George’s County Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes tracking bills of interest through the approval process, attended and facilitated meetings with parties of interest on Human Trafficking Bills within the County and served as the point of contact for the Commission. 
  

• Researched case law and drafted decisions for disputes arising out of the Federal Mine Safety & Health Act of 1977 related to penalty assessments, Equal Access to Justice Act, discrimination and other mine safety related matters for the Administrative Law Judges.
  

• Researched legal issues for the Honorable Herman Dawson. 

  criminal sentencing reviews.

• Provided recommendations for dispositions and

• Prepared bench memoranda/orders.

• Drafted judicial opinions for juvenile, civil and

  criminal issues to include administrative appeals, motions to strike, motions to transfer venue, motions to dismiss, post-conviction hearings, review of sentence hearings and summary judgments.
• Coordinated the Rising S.T.A.R.S. Youth Scholarship Academy events for the 2012-2013 year. 

  
  

• Attended planning meetings and drafted Statements of Reasons (SOR) for attorneys in the division, which are documents given to complainants after an investigation has been conducted to determine the validity of the claim.
  
• Researched and drafted a memorandum detailing the changes in law since the pivotal labor law case of Wal-Mart v. Dukes, decided in 2011. 
  

• Drafted legal memoranda, motions and other legal related documents, which have been used in active estate cases. Researched complex legal issues including employment litigation, government contracts, corporate contracts, estate planning, matrimonial proceeding, family law and data research law. 
• Attended divorce proceedings and negotiations.
  

• Composed and submitted detention order holding decisions on felony preliminary hearing cases. 
  
• Researched relevant case law and used them effectively in court documents. 
• Attended various criminal trial proceedings and assisted the Magistrate Judge and law clerk with various case related tasks that were necessary for each day and upcoming trials. 
  

• Compiled vital research information and spreadsheets the Legal Defense and Educational Fund used in their published judicial nomination recommendation for Solicitor General Elena Kagan. 
• Drafted and submitted a memorandum of legislative history for ongoing litigation involving State challenges to voting rights and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.