Courtney Barksdale Perez is a partner at Carter Arnett. Courtney has a vast array of civil litigation experience having tried cases to jury in state and federal court. She has represented plaintiffs and defendants in employment-related claims, civil disputes involving allegations of fraud, negligence, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of covenants not to compete, tortious interference with contracts, civil conspiracy, antitrust and in intellectual property disputes alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, trademark infringement, and patent infringement. 

Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law, Courtney has specialized knowledge representing individuals, corporations, and government entities in all phases of commercial and employment related litigation from the risk-management phase through trial and on appeal. Courtney regularly advises clients concerning compliance with employment-related statutes and has served as lead counsel in cases involving claims asserted under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Family Medical Leave Act, Federal Labor Standards Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Texas Whistleblower Act, the Texas Payday Act, the Texas Labor Code and employment agreements. She also conducts internal investigations, reviews and prepares policies and procedures, and provides training for employers. Courtney also has experience advising government contractors concerning their obligations under federal contract compliance laws, developing compliance programs, drafting Affirmative Action plans and representing government contractors in administrative proceedings. 

In addition, Courtney is a trained mediator and uses her dispute resolution training and experience to assist litigants in resolving employment, business, commercial, consumer, personal injury and civil
rights disputes. 

Prior to joining Carter Arnett, Courtney was an associate at an international law firm and served as Law Clerk to the Honorable James A. Beaty, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North
Carolina.

Education:  

• The University of Texas School of Law, 2007, Austin, Texas, Juris Doctor
• Wake Forest University, 2004, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Bachelor of Arts, Political Science & Communication

Janie Perelman is Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Michaels Stores, Inc.  In this role, Janie heads the labor & employment law and litigation areas.  Prior to Michaels, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Employment Law at CEC Entertainment, Inc. (Chuck E. Cheese’s); Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Secretary for Guaranty Financial Group Inc./Guaranty Bank; Associate General Counsel for Zale Corporation; and Associate General Counsel and VP Human Resources for Kitty Hawk, Inc.  Before going in-house, Janie was in private practice in Houston where a large amount of her docket concentrated on Plaintiff’s employment law work. 

Janie graduated from the University of Texas, where she was Vice President of the Students Association, with a journalism degree and received her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Houston. Janie is Board Certified in Labor and Employment law and has been recognized as a Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly magazine.  Janie also received recognition as Outstanding Assistant General Counsel- First Chair awards (national), the winner for the 2015 DCEO and ACC 2015 Corporate Counsel award for Outstanding Deputy or Associate General Counsel- Small Legal Dept in the DFW area and was a finalist for Outstanding AGC by the Texas General Counsel Forum-2013 and for the ACC/Texas Law Book Corporate Counsel Awards 2018.

She is a former President of the Association of Corporate Counsel-DFW, a frequent speaker at Labor and Employment Law seminars and was previously a host on Job Talk, a Houston radio show. Janie served on the State Bar Committee on Providing Legal Services to the Poor and served on the steering committee for the Texas Minority Counsel Program 2012. Janie is active in a variety of legal and community organizations including the Junior League of Dallas as a sustainer and a member of the JLD HR Advisory Committee.  Janie has served on numerous non-profit boards and is currently on the board of directors for the Texas Neurofibromatosis Foundation. Also, Janie and her husband work with numerous animal rescue groups and are avid animal lovers.