Separation Agreements: Key and Developing Issues (2025 Edition)

William A. Nolan | Barnes & Thornburg LLP

Bill Nolan is a Labor & Employment partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP in Columbus, an office he opened in 2009 and guided through steady and thoughtful growth for its first 15 years. He brings attentiveness and clarity to bear on employment, contract, and other disputes and help clients make optimal and cost-effective decisions in difficult situations, and plan strategically to minimize those situations. He is current chair of the Ohio State Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Section and a Chambers and Partners Band 1 ranked labor and employment lawyer, one of five in Ohio.

Some practice areas where Bill has distinctive experience are litigating and advising on noncompete and trade secret disputes across the country; representing employers and executives in a wide range of employment contract issues, including designing restrictive covenant programs for national employers; helping employers effectively and cost-effectively manage employee health issues and the many related legal issues; guiding workplace investigations; and training client teams on employment law issues and litigation avoidance strategies, both formally and just as part of his approach to day-to-day counseling.

Bill believes that his employment practice and years of office and community leadership dovetail and complement each other in a unified focus on helping businesses and other organizations run well so that individuals can succeed. He is always looking for new tools and partnerships to accomplish that for clients, teammates, and in the Central Ohio community.

I. Employer considerations in offering severance | 1:00pm – 1:20pm

II. Most common areas of negotiation | 1:20pm – 1:40pm

III. Handling mutuality of various provisions | 1:40pm – 2:00pm

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

IV. Special ADEA considerations with group terminations | 2:10pm – 2:30pm

V. A growing number of state-specific issues | 2:30pm – 2:50pm

VI. NLRB’s focus on confidentiality provisions | 2:50pm – 3:10pm