Joshua R. Van Kampen is the founder and principal of Van Kampen Law PLLC in Charlotte, North Carolina.
From 1998-2004, Mr. Van Kampen worked as an associate at two nationally recognized employment law defense firms in Chicago: Seyfarth Shaw and Franczek Sullivan. During his six years as a defense attorney, Mr. Van Kampen defended Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller businesses in age, race, sex, disability, sexual harassment, traditional labor, and wage and hour litigation. Mr. Van Kampen's defense experience also included counseling employers on litigation avoidance and sexual harassment training.
In 2004, Mr. Van Kampen relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, and transitioned his practice from defending employers to exclusively representing victims of discrimination, sexual harassment, unequal pay, wrongful discharge, retaliation, and wage and hour violations. A significant portion of his practice also includes negotiations and litigation involving executive employment agreements, severance agreements and bonus/stock disputes.
Prior to forming Van Kampen Law PLLC in July 2011, Mr. Van Kampen was a partner at two of the premier, plaintiff-side employment law firms in North Carolina: Fosbinder & Van Kampen, PLLC and Patterson Harkavy, LLP.
Van Kampen Law's primary clients are professional and executive-level victims of employment discrimination and sexual harassment. Mr. Van Kampen tries to leverage his training as a management-side employment attorney to anticipate and counteract strategies and tactics utilized by employers. Being a member of the defense bar has also been useful to Mr. Van Kampen in helping clients to properly value their cases, and to assess when to push and when to concede during settlement negotiations.
The firm also strategically takes on fewer cases so that it can devote sufficient resources to match up favorably against the large defense firms employers invariably hire. By concentrating his practice exclusively on employment law in the Charlotte area, Mr. Van Kampen has also established solid working relationships with many of the area’s employment law defense attorneys and in-house counsels, which can sometimes facilitate early settlement. To that end, many of the cases referred to Mr. Van Kampen are from defense attorneys against whom he has litigated.
Ultimately, Van Kampen Law strives to be regarded as the most aggressive employment litigation firm in the state. That said, the firm also works effectively and in good faith with area employers to settle matters amicably and confidentially where possible. While litigation is ultimately often necessary, Van Kampen Law's initial approach with employers emphasizes diplomacy, open mindedness and mutual interests.
Mr. Van Kampen has assumed several leadership roles within the plaintiff-side employment law bar in North Carolina. He has served as chairman of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice's Employment Law Section and has been that section's ethics chair for the past two years. Mr. Van Kampen also serves on the NCAJ Legislative Committee and is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association. Mr. Van Kampen also sits on the Labor and Employment Law Council of the North Carolina Bar Association. Mr. Van Kampen is a frequent lecturer on employment law issues and negotiation strategy.
Mr. Van Kampen received his B.A. from Purdue University in 1993 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1998, where he graduated with magna cum laude honors.
Law School: University of Illinois College of Law
Admitted: 2004, North Carolina
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