Attorneys & Staff
John M. Clifford
John M. Clifford has tried more than 125 jury cases and hundreds of bench trials, and has argued numerous appeals. He specializes in employment cases involving claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and has tried an extensive range of civil cases including malpractice, fraud, and defamation. He frequently represents employees, but also provides defense and consulting services for employers, including government agencies.
Mr. Clifford and his partner, Billie Garde, together with their experienced staff, have established a firm renowned for its record in promoting work environments free from harassment, intimidation, retaliation, and discrimination.
Mr. Clifford received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University. He received his J.D. Degree from The Catholic University of American, Columbus School of Law, where he served as a member of the Catholic University Law review and as the Student Bar Association delegate to the ABA Convention.
Mr. Clifford is a member of the District of Columbia and Maryland Bar Associations.
Billie P. Garde
BILLIE PIRNER GARDE
Billie Pirner Garde specializes in resolving employment issues that arise within the unique work environment of the nation’s energy complexes, including the commercial nuclear industry, the Department of Energy (DOE) complex, and the oil and gas industry.
Ms. Garde’s legal practice focuses, almost exclusively, on representing employees who have been terminated or subjected to harassment, intimidation or retaliation for raising safety concerns. She has practiced in federal and state courts since 1986. Her experience with employee concerns
programs (ECP) began in 1982 with hundreds of employee concerns at the Zimmer nuclear power plant, through the development of various ECP program models, the beginning of the Employee Concerns Program Forum, and the maturing of such programs throughout the environmental/energy
industries.
Ms. Garde has been involved in the development and assessment of work environments and safety cultures from several perspectives. Beginning in 1989, with the global settlement of all litigation impacting the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant in Texas, she provided training to site managers
and was an alternative member to the site’s safety review board, advising the company on rebuilding its safety culture. Between 1997 and 2000, Ms. Garde served as a member of the Millstone Independent Oversight Team, assessing the recovery of the work environment at Millstone nuclear power plant, and ultimately certifying to the Commission that its workforce was
willing to raise and pursue safety concerns. She served in a similar capacity at Maine Yankee during its decommissioning. More recently, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), facing serious work environment concerns, hired Ms. Garde to provide training to the entire workforce, consulting advice to the management team, and assistance in the development of the work
environment recovery efforts. She has also worked internationally in Spain and England with companies addressing safety culture recovery efforts.
Within the DOE complex, Ms. Garde has provided training and assistance at several sites, with over a decade of work at the Hanford Reservation. She served as one of the founding members on the
Hanford Joint Council for Resolving Employee Concerns, a model alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process created jointly by the State of Washington, DOE and Hanford contractors, which
operated from 1993 to 2002. Ms. Garde is now a council member on the Hanford Concerns Council (HCC) which was established in 2005 to resolve employee concerns. Beginning in September, 2006 Ms. Garde was appointed as the Deputy Ombudsman for BP America, Inc., responsible for
managing a nationwide employee concerns "hotline" program.
Ms. Garde has been actively involved in the review, development and modification of the NRC’s safety conscious work environment, safety culture, and ADR policies over the past ten years, and thus has a good understanding of the regulator’s expectations. In addition, Ms. Garde has
conducted numerous independent investigations and has provided formal mediation services. Ms. Garde is a speaker at professional associations and conferences.
Ms. Garde received her Bachelor’s and Master's Degrees from Northeastern University, Oklahoma. She received her J.D. from Antioch School of Law. She worked for the Government Accountability Project ("GAP") and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice ("TLPJ") for several years before starting a private practice with Mr. Clifford.
Ms. Garde is a member of the District of Columbia, Texas, and
Wisconsin bar associations.
Sandra Shepherd
Sandy Shepherd is a paralegal and consultant with
more than twenty years of experience. In addition
to managing discovery and assisting with trial
preparation, Ms. Shepherd performs work assessments
and improvement plans. In performing work
assessments to evaluate improvements needed to
ensure a safety conscious work environment, Ms.
Shepherd has conducted more than five hundred
employee interviews and analyzed survey data on
numerous large-scale projects. Ms. Shepherd also
has considerable experience obtaining materials
from government agencies through the Freedom of
Information Act.
Prior to joining Clifford & Garde, Ms. Shepherd
provided support services to the U.S. Department of
Justice, served as Office Manager for Trial Lawyers
for Public Justice, and provided paralegal services
to Ms. Garde at several law firms. Ms. Shepherd
has extensive experience working on employment
cases, including cases involving sexual harassment,
and age, gender, race and handicap discrimination;
she also has experience with personal injury cases,
including medical malpractice claims. Ms. Shepherd
earned a Certificate of Paralegal Studies from the
University of Maryland in 1982.