Kayla D. Dreyer is a shareholder at Jones & Keller, P.C., based in Denver, Colorado, where she leads the firm’s employment law practice, providing strategic counseling, advocacy in high-stakes litigation, investigations, and transactional support. With more than 15 years of experience, Kayla represents businesses of all sizes and across a variety of industries, guiding them through the ever-evolving employment law landscape. She is known for synthesizing complex legal requirements into pragmatic, business-minded strategies, and regularly serves as trusted advisor and outside counsel to employers, executives, and human resource leaders.
Kayla’s practice spans the full spectrum of employment law, including wage and hour compliance, discrimination and retaliation claims, trade secret protection and misappropriation, restrictive covenants, workplace investigations, and reductions in force. She partners closely with Jones & Keller’s Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions teams to deliver employment-related support during complex transactions, including due diligence, executive agreements, and post-close integration. Her commercial litigation experience covers trade secrets, unlawful competition, employee mobility disputes, non-compete and non-solicitation agreements, insurance coverage, and intellectual property matters, and comprehensive defense against all manner of employment-related claims.
With a truly nationwide practice, Kayla has represented businesses in courts and arbitrations across the country. She also provides tailored employment services to nonprofits, family offices, and private individuals. Kayla maintains deep ties to her home state of Texas and New Mexico, where she completed a federal judicial clerkship.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- Obtained emergency relief in connection with trade secret theft or unfair competition for businesses in jurisdictions across the country.
- Defended employer in multi-plaintiff wage and hour litigation, securing dismissal of key claims and favorable settlement terms.
- Conducted internal investigations for Fortune 500 companies involving allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.
- Advised a private equity firm on employment-related due diligence and executive compensation issues in connection with an acquisition.
- Led an investigation into allegations of sexual impropriety made against a CEO.
- Represented a regional bank in arbitration involving breach of restrictive covenant and trade secret misappropriation claims.
- Negotiated executive employment agreements and separation packages for C-suite leaders across industries, including technology, energy, transportation, entertainment, and professional services sectors.
- Led employment law audits for companies undergoing immigration compliance, wage and hour, and misclassification reviews.
- Obtained civil protective order for a publicly traded company against a harassing former employee.
- Provide full suite of employment law services to private families and household managers.
PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
- It’s an Emergency: Injunctive Relief and Vacatur as Remedies in Employment Law Matters, CBA Employment Law Spring Update, April 2025
- The Legal Landscape of DEI: Protecting Your Nonprofit in a Changing Environment, Colorado Nonprofit Association, April 2025
- Preparing for Mediation, Panelist, Colorado Bar Association, February 2025
- Employment Law Update, Speaker, Colorado Bar Association, September 2024
- The Independent Contractor Question and Why It Matters, Webinar, May 2024
- Colorado’s Non-Compete Statute Q&A: What Employers Need to Know, Co-Author, Colorado Lawyer, March 2023
- 2022 Labor & Employment Colorado Legislative Update: Key Takeaways from the 73rd General Assembly, Speaker, 2022 Labor & Employment Colorado Legislative Update, Colorado Bar Association, May 2022
- Negotiating ESI, Federal Practice Update 2022, Colorado Bar Association CLE, July 2022
- Q&A with Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright, Moderator, 5th Annual Colorado Litigators’ Summit, Colorado Bar Association CLE, October 2022
- Vaccine Injury Law in the Employment Context, Speaker, August 2021
- Practitioner’s Guide to Colorado Employment Law, Author, Chapter 29: Discovery, Practitioner’s Guide to Colorado Employment Law, Colorado Bar Association, January 2020
- Colorado Case Law Update, Speaker, Colorado Defense Lawyers Association, July 2020
- Cannabis and the Workplace, Speaker, Colorado Bar Association Labor and Employment Section, May 2018
- Updates in Foreclosure Law, Speaker, State Bar of Texas Poverty Law Conference, April 2012
- USDA Is a Tough Collector When Mortgages Go Bad, Wall Street Journal, May 2012
CLERKSHIP
- Honorable Carmen E. Garza, United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, 2013-2015
