Matthew Deffebach leads the Labor, Employment and Immigration Practice Group and co-leads the Litigation Department at Haynes & Boone. As a litigator, Mr. Deffebach has handled contract disputes and a number of non-subscriber negligence lawsuits/arbitrations. As an employment litigator, he has managed several teams overseeing national wage and hour collective (or class) action disputes.
He also routinely counsels clients and assists them with disputes concerning discrimination, harassment, retaliation, disability issues, non-competition and similar agreements, misappropriation of trade secrets, wrongful termination, social media, and similar matters. As an OSHA litigator, he has successfully defended clients in OSHA administrative trials including the following recent illustrative matters: an oil field fatality in Texas; a powered industrial truck matter in Georgia; a hexavalent chromium dispute in Oklahoma; a PSM inspection of an ammonia refrigeration facility in Texas; a fall protection case in California; a state-wide machine guarding case in Maryland; and a PPE matter in California.
He received his B.A. from Trinity University, cum laude, and his J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center.
He is the co-author of Bloomberg BNA Privacy & Data Security Practice Portfolio SeriesSocial Media. This portfolio volume discusses the legal issues that can arise in connection with the use of social media. After initially discussing the dramatic growth in the use of social media and the government agencies that are primarily involved with overseeing this activity, the portfolio analyzes the legal issues involving social media in the employment area, including its use in the hiring process, and in a company's advertising and marketing efforts.