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Ms. Royals is a partner and focuses her practice on complex civil litigation, employment, and intellectual property. Her clients run the gamut from individuals and sole proprietorships to national corporations. She represents both employees and employers in the area of employment law. Her practice includes the representation of clients in non-competition/restrictive covenant matters, with an emphasis on physician non-competes, and in civil rights and defamation cases.

She is the author of “The Flip Side for Employees: Virginia Computer Crimes Act,” The Journal of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, Summer 2005, and is a contributing author of the article “Electronic Discovery in Employment Cases,” The Journal of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, Summer 2005.

Representative Engagements:

In the intellectual property context, Ms. Royals has represented parties on both sides of infringement matters involving copyrights, trademarks, and service marks. She was recently involved in the successful resolution of a copyright infringement case in which the client, a government contractor, was the defendant.
Ms. Royals has achieved excellent results for her clients in restrictive covenant matters. In a recent non-competition case, she was instrumental in obtaining an injunction against her physician client’s former employer, preempting that employer’s enforcement of a covenant not to compete. Ultimately, Ms. Royals negotiated a settlement under which her client is now allowed to practice in the very geographic area previously restricted by the non-competition covenant.
In addition to her representation of plaintiff employees, Ms. Royals has successfully defended employers against charges of harassment and discrimination. In one recent case, Ms. Royals orchestrated the settlement of a discrimination suit against her employer client, a national corporation, so that the client paid no damages to the claimant.
Many of Ms. Royals' representations occur in the complex civil litigation context, where she has obtained satisfactory results for her clients. A recent notable case involved the defense of an individual sued by a national railroad company for trespass and conversion following the client's purchase of rail material from a mining company's trusttee in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy sale. After extended litigation involving both state and federal courts, the jury returned a verdict satisfactory to the client.