Connie N. Bertram

For over thirty years, Connie has represented employers, boards and individual owners and executives in transactions and disputes, including matters involving employment and equity agreements, non-competes, and other post-employment restrictions, trade secrets, “business divorces,” and confidential internal investigations.

 In 2025, she was ranked in the top eight employment litigators in D.C. by Chambers & Partners USA, the leading international rating organization.  Clients reported to Chambers that Connie:

• “. . . is an all-around leader” and “is extraordinary in every way;”
• “is persistent, knowledgeable, thorough, well-spoken and efficient;”
• is “an amazing attorney, with a brilliant, quick mind . . . She is like an encyclopedia . . . so seasoned in the law that her advice is always spot-on and practical;”
• “is world-class on all metrics. She’s an experienced and confident professional and her intuitive approach, coupled with her focus, delivers the best recommendations, every time!”;
• is a “true leader, guider, mentor, and provider of sound legal advice;”
• “[s]he’s very responsive and very smart. She’s an excellent lawyer and is very good at what she does;” and
• “is extraordinary in every way.”

Connie has been named a top employment lawyer or litigator by Benchmark, Legal 500, The American Lawyer, Washington Business Journal, Washingtonian, Legal Times and National Law Journal.  

Connie has litigated complex contract, tort, trade secret, restrictive covenant, discrimination and retaliation claims across the United States.  Connie has served as lead counsel in some of the most challenging and hotly contested litigation matters in the country.  She has the experience and skills to tailor her prosecution or defense to the needs of her clients, from conciliatory to “pit bull.”

Connie is curious, creative, pragmatic.   To Connie and her team, litigation and internal investigations are like a challenging puzzle that needs to be sorted, organized, and assembled piece by piece.  That process involves not only strong legal and analytical skills, but an understanding of technology, psychology, and business dynamics.  What is the core of the dispute? How did the relationship go awry?  What are the motivations behind both sides?  The team's curiosity and creativity differentiate them from more linear, cookie-cutter approaches. 

Connie is a frequent speaker on a variety of litigation, employment, and ethics issues, including internal investigations, federal whistleblower statutes, and the development and use of forensic data in litigation.  She presents at national conferences and conventions, including American Bar Association Annual Conferences. She has been quoted on these and other topics by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Legal Times, Compliance Weekly, Law360, Corporate Counsel, Bloomberg Law, Bloomberg Business Week, the Association of Corporate Counsel, and Human Resources Executive.

A prolific writer, Connie authored chapters regarding employment law for the D.C. Bar Manual and Chambers Guide and, for over fifteen years, and was the editor of the leading blog in the country concerning employment and compliance developments.  Connie authored  Sarbanes-Oxley: A New Whistle Stop for Whistleblowers published in the Labor Lawyer.