Julia Turner Baumhart
Partner
Birmingham Office
280 North Old Woodward Avenue, Suite 400
Birmingham, Michigan 48009
jbaumhart@kohp.com
P: 248.645.0000
F: 248.645.1385
Biography
Over the past 15 years, Ms. Baumhart has represented employers of all sizes, including many Fortune 500 employers, in disputes at the trial and appellate levels. Ms. Baumhart’s client base has spanned the automotive, publishing, technology, hospitality, education, oil and pipeline, entertainment, media, finance, insurance, and other industry sectors, and has encompassed all areas of employment law. She has successfully defended employers in class actions and pattern-and-practice cases, as well as in single-plaintiff litigation. Ms. Baumhart has served as both an arbitrator and an advocate in arbitrated disputes. Some representative engagements include:
- Defeating class certification in a race discrimination disparate impact and disparate treatment case against a Fortune 500 natural gas company.
- Representing one of the “Big Three” automakers in disparate impact pattern-and-practice litigation with OFCCP, and advice and counsel to federal government contractors of all sizes on the full range of OFCCP issues.
- Obtaining summary judgment for clients on complex and fact-intensive issues ranging from sexual harassment to reduction-in-force age discrimination to ERISA and FMLA claims.
- Arguing in the Michigan Supreme Court the standard for when an employer can be held liable for harassment directed at a non-employee.
Ms. Baumhart has been with Kienbaum Opperwall Hardy & Pelton since its inception in 1997. Prior to joining the firm, she was an employment law associate with the Detroit-based Dickinson Wright law firm; a judicial clerk to Judge James L. Ryan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; and Employment Litigation Coordinator and Employee Relations Manager for EDS. In 1972, Ms. Baumhart earned her Bachelor of Journalism degree from the DeWitt C. Reddick School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1993, she graduated magna cum laude from the Wayne State University Law School, where she received numerous awards for writing and scholarship, including the Order of the Coif.
A frequent speaker at employment law seminars, Ms. Baumhart has published on affirmative action and OFCCP audits, performance appraisals, employer access to employee email, and other workplace issues.
Bar and Court Admissions
Michigan
U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court
Memberships and Activities
American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law and Litigation Sections
State Bar of Michigan
Oakland County Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law and Litigation Sections
Society for Human Resource Management
Human Resources Association of Greater Detroit
Legal Affairs Committee Member
