Trisha brings a unique combination of legal and business expertise to The Hawkins Firm. Having investigated more than 1,000 employee internal, external & hotline complaints for employers over her career as an attorney and company executive, her practice now focuses on internal investigations and giving practical, real-world advice to employers on a wide range of employment law issues.
She started her legal career in Atlanta with Fisher & Phillips, a management-side labor and employment law boutique, after graduating from the Ohio State University College of law in 1995. In her six years at Fisher & Phillips, Trisha focused on defending employers in single-plaintiff and class action discrimination lawsuits but also developed a broad base of labor and employment law knowledge.
She left private practice in 2001 to join Equifax, Inc. as Associate Group Counsel, where she managed all employment litigation for the $1.4 Billion company and negotiated contracts for one of its emerging business units. Equifax named her its first Compliance and Ethics Officer, leading the company’s compliance and ethics program in the U.S. and eight other countries. She also subsequently served in various senior Human Resources roles while at Equifax.
After Equifax, Trisha served as Senior Vice President & Associate General Counsel and in various HR leadership roles for Education Management Corporation, a $3.5 Billion private company and second largest proprietary education company in the U.S. Before joining The Hawkins Firm, Trisha held other CHRO roles, most recently as Chief People, Legal and Compliance Officer for Tegra LLC, a private equity-owned sports apparel manufacturer with more than 12,000 employees in the U.S., Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
In addition to her law degree from Ohio State, Trisha earned her B.A. degree in Political Science from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia.
