David A. Copus

David is a member of the American Bar Association’s Sections on Litigation and Labor and Employment Law. He is on the editorial board of Corporate Counsel’s Guide to the American with Disabilities Act. He has written numerous articles and books, including a book on litigation strategy published by the American Bar Association and a book on human resources policies published by the Society for Human Resources Management. He has also written a standard text on employment law, Employment Law 101, as well as books on OFCCP, affirmative action, and drug testing. He has written and lectured widely on the effective use of expert witnesses in class actions and on the standards for the admissibility of expert testimony.

David has assisted companies in preparing and implementing affirmative action programs which, in the aggregate, cover more than 2,000,000 employees. He also regularly represents employers in OFCCP matters, including hundreds of standard OFCCP compliance evaluations and “glass ceiling” audits. He has defended several OFCCP enforcement actions.

Following two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in India, David began his legal career in 1969 at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where for many years he headed the National Programs Division. In that capacity, he directed some of the largest class action investigations against employers and labor unions. David was also the lead attorney in the EEOC’s largest nationwide class action lawsuit.

Since 1977 David has been in private practice representing employers. He spent 17 years in the Washington, D.C. office of Jones Day before joining the Morristown, New Jersey office of Ogletree Deakins in 2004.