Kienbaum Opperwall Hardy & Pelton has been designated in Chambers USA's Client Guide to America's Leading Business Lawyers as the top employment and labor law firm in Michigan. Among our firm's members are several of the region's most recognized and successful employment and labor attorneys. A number of our lawyers have been selected by their peers to be listed among the "Best Lawyers in America" and inducted as Fellows of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Our lawyers are frequent lecturers for the prestigious National Employment Law Institute and other business education programs.

The firm was formed in May 1997 by Thomas G. Kienbaum, Theodore R. Opperwall, Elizabeth Hardy, and Eric J. Pelton. All were previously partners at a major Detroit law firm, where Mr. Kienbaum headed the labor and employment law department. The firm is based in downtown Birmingham, Michigan, and also has an office in downtown Detroit, Michigan.

An increasingly complex employment and labor environment demands prompt, practical legal counseling. Kienbaum Opperwall Hardy & Pelton specializes in guiding employers through the challenges of the contemporary workplace. From wrongful discharge claims to traditional union-management matters to preventive advice, our attorneys are all skilled in representing management’s interests and perspectives. Our firm draws on its attorneys’ individual talents and wide-ranging experiences in the employment and labor field to deliver large-firm effectiveness at small-firm cost. In addition to competitive hourly rates, our firm derives other efficiencies – which are passed on to our clients – from our specialized boutique practice.

Our practice spans all aspects of employment and labor law. We provide proactive services — counseling employers on avoiding wrongful discharge claims, employment discrimination suits, and all of the potential employee claims that can arise under a myriad of federal and state statutes. Through our in-house seminars and workshops, we educate management so that sensitive situations can be prevented or properly handled. We conduct on-site investigations of troublesome workplace problems and advise employers on how to deal successfully with the results. But when it becomes necessary, our litigators provide a vigorous defense, based on years of experience before federal and state courts and administrative tribunals.

Our firm's distinctive boutique practice style and philosophy offer our clients a highly focused, proactive, strategic, and resource-conscious approach to avoiding if possible, confronting when necessary, and efficiently resolving the many complex workplace issues facing American employers today. A sizable segment of our practice consists of complex multi-state litigation including class actions. We represent many clients on a regional or national basis. All of our firm's members have devoted their careers to this specialized field, and do not have to "reinvent the wheel" with each new representation.