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Martha L. Boyd

Shareholder

Martha Boyd is shareholder and chair of the Labor & Employment Group at Baker Donelson. Ms. Boyd advises nonprofits, for-profits and public companies on all types of employment issues.

Professional Biography


Ms. Boyd helps clients to manage their employees effectively and legally. She counsels companies as they contemplate discipline and discharge of employees and helps to ensure they are well-positioned to defend their decisions. She assists clients in drafting employment policies and employee handbooks that are tailored to their workplace and trains managers in policy implementation and interpretation. As a Certified Fraud Examiner, Ms. Boyd is trained in conducting workplace investigations of harassment or other misconduct and has conducted numerous investigations throughout her more than twenty years of practicing law. She devotes a significant amount of her practice to training executives and managers in understanding their legal obligations, union avoidance and positive employee relations, and workplace violence.

Her extensive experience working with foreign-owned companies help to bridge the gap between their understanding of U.S. labor and employment laws in comparison to their country of origin. She has developed training programs focused on helping managers understand and navigate the differences in managing their workforce.

Ms. Boyd has also performed human resources due diligence in a number of corporate acquisitions. When representing acquiring parties, she reviews all HR policies and practices, identifying potential risk for liability so that the acquiring party can factor that risk into the transaction. Gaining the familiarity required to provide this service necessarily puts her in the position of being able to help prepare the new company's policies – whether those policies come from the acquired company, the acquiring company or a combination of both – and ensure they reflect best practices.

A U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq, Ms. Boyd now works with a number of nonprofits that provide support to combat veterans and their family members.

  • Successfully defended a hospitality company against claims of sexual harassment and retaliation by a temporary worker. Won a motion for summary judgment on all claims.

  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Employment Law - Management, 2014 – 2025; Litigation - ERISA, 2015 – 2025; Litigation - Labor and Employment, 2019 – 2025; Commercial Litigation, 2021 – 2025; Government Contracts, 2022 – 2025; Labor Law - Management, 2025
  • Named the Best Lawyers® 2023 and 2017 Litigation - ERISA "Lawyer of the Year" in Nashville
  • Named the Best Lawyers® 2022 Litigation - Labor and Employment "Lawyer of the Year" in Nashville
  • Named the Best Lawyers® 2019 Employment Law - Management "Lawyer of the Year" in Nashville
  • AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  • Selected to Mid-South Super Lawyers, 2013 – 2023; listed as among the top 50 female attorneys in the Mid-South, 2014 – 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023; listed as among the top 50 attorneys in Nashville, 2015 – 2016, 2022, 2023; listed as among the top 100 attorneys in Tennessee, 2015 – 2016, 2019, 2022, 2023
  • Recipient − Nashville Business Journal's "Women of Influence" award, 2016
  • Named to the Nashville Business Journal's "Best of the Bar" List 2014 – 2020, 2023, 2024
  • Recipient − Nashville Business Journal's inaugural "Veterans Award," 2015
  • Selected to Leadership Nashville, Class of 2025
  • Member − Tennessee Bar Association, graduate of Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law class of 2006 
  • Member − Nashville Bar Association
  • Former Barrister, Harry Phillips American Inn of Court
  • Tennessee Bar Foundation Fellow
  • Nashville Bar Foundation Fellow
  • Board Member − Law 360 Employment Editorial Advisory Board, 2013
  • Member − Human Resources Committee, Park Center, Inc., 2003 − present; Board of Directors, 2014 − present 
  • Member − Human Resources Committee for the YWCA, 2013 − 2015
  • Member − Governor's Council on Service Members, Veterans & Their Families, 2010
  • Former Board President − Operation Stand Down Tennessee (2017 − 2019)
  • Nashville Downtown Rotary Club

Education

  • Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D., 1999
  • Vanderbilt University, B.A., 1990

Admissions

  • Tennessee, 2002
  • Ohio, 1999
  • U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky
  • U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois

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