Kathleen Caminiti, Stephen Mitchell and J. Hagood Tighe Elected as College of Labor & Employment Lawyers Fellows

Kathleen Caminiti, Stephen Mitchell and J. Hagood Tighe, partners at Fisher Phillips, have been elected as Fellows of The College of Labor & Employment Lawyers as a part of the organization’s 2025 class. Election as a Fellow is the highest recognition by one’s colleagues of sustained outstanding performance in the profession, exemplifying integrity, dedication and excellence. Kathleen, Stephen and Hagood will be formally inducted on November 15 in Denver, Colorado in conjunction with the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Continuing Legal Education Conference.

Kathleen is a partner in the firm’s New Jersey and New York offices, where she has extensive experience handling all aspects of employment litigation, including individual plaintiff discrimination claims, restrictive covenant litigation, and numerous class and collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage laws. She serves as co-chair of the firm’s Wage and Hour Practice Group and the Pay Equity and Transparency Practice Group where she leverages her deep understanding of these critical workplace issues to counsel clients across the country.

Stephen is Regional Managing Partner of the firm’s Columbia, SC office and for over 30 years has represented employers providing advice and litigating employment matters, including employee defection matters, with a primary focus on traditional labor law. His practice includes advising clients on matters involving a broad array of employment litigation, as well as collective bargaining, avoiding and responding to unfair labor practices, acquisition of unionized facilities, union organizing efforts, corporate campaigns, labor arbitrations, and work stoppages. Because he works with clients across the country, Stephen’s client base is diversified and includes private equity, banks, multinational manufacturing companies, large distribution facilities, and clients in the medical field. As co-chair of the firm’s Manufacturing Industry Group and the Mergers and Acquisition Practice Group, he has a keen understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing these clients. Stephen is the past Chair of the ABA Committee on the Development of the Law Under the NLRA and in that role served as the editor of the Committee’s treatise, The Developing Labor Law: The Board, the Courts, and the National Labor Relations Act.

Hagood is a partner in Fisher Phillips’ Columbia, SC, office and is co-chair of the firm’s national Wage and Hour practice. In recent years, he has handled dozens of class and collective actions throughout the country, many of which involve wage and hour issues. He also successfully defended one of the largest WARN Act class actions in recent history. Hagood also has extensive experience defending single-plaintiff lawsuits alleging wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment and retaliation. While he maintains an active litigation practice, he also focuses on providing practical and proactive advice designed to minimize the risk of litigation. This includes advising on handbooks, policies, employment agreements, investigations, layoffs and terminations. Hagood is a recent Past President of the South Carolina Bar and has held leadership positions in many other charitable and civic organizations. 

The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers is a distinguished body of individuals drawing its membership from the best and brightest lawyers, academicians, and scholars in the field of Labor and Employment Law. For more information, visit https://theclel.org/.