KEITH A. CLOUSE
Clouse Brown PLLC

214.239.2705 (direct phone)
214.481.8881 ( fax)

keith@clousebrown.com  |  Download vCard  |  Connect with Keith on Linkedin

Keith Clouse is an employment law specialist with over 30 years of experience representing C-Suite executives, business owners, physicians, and corporations in complex employment litigation, arbitration, and contract negotiations. High-level business executives, physicians, and other professionals consistently rely on Mr. Clouse for employment law expertise and advice on employment contracts, covenants not to compete, severance agreements, equity awards, trade secret disputes, and breach of fiduciary duty claims.

Mr. Clouse does not sugarcoat. He does not placate. And in the courtroom, he absolutely does not relent.

Mr. Clouse is known in business circles as the go-to guy for representing C-Suite and senior executives. In addition to negotiating employment contracts, equity awards, and severance agreements on behalf of senior executives, his track record includes successfully defending numerous discrimination, wrongful discharge, sexual harassment, and breach of contract claims filed against corporate clients in state and federal courts.

Mr. Clouse has been Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1994. Fewer than 1% of the 103,000 licensed attorneys in Texas are Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law. In 2019, he was inducted into the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, a professional organization that recognizes attorneys who have distinguished themselves in the practice of employment law.

Mr. Clouse has earned selection to the annual Texas Super Lawyers list by Thomson Reuters in Texas Monthly magazine since 2003. Since 2021, he has been named one of Super Lawyers’ Top 100 lawyers in Texas and one of the Top 100 attorneys in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. He has also been consistently named among the Best Lawyers in Dallas by his peers in the legal community and the publishers of D Magazine since 2007. In 2022, he was selected as a member of D Magazine’s inaugural class of Best Lawyers in Dallas Hall of Fame, which honors attorneys who have been selected to the annual list for at least 15 years. Each year since 2015, Mr. Clouse has been named to The Best Lawyers in America for employment law, and he was named the Lawyer of the Year for Dallas employment law in the publication’s 2025 edition. In 2015, D CEO magazine recognized Mr. Clouse as a Dallas 500 Business Leader and, in 2018, he was profiled as the Attorney of the Month in Attorney at Law magazine.

From 2018 to 2022, Mr. Clouse served as an Adjunct Professor at Tulane Law School teaching a course on mediating and arbitrating employment disputes.

In 2007, Mr. Clouse was invited to join the panel of employment arbitrators with the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and he is regularly chosen to serve as an arbitrator in AAA employment cases.

EXPERIENCE
In March 2024, Mr. Clouse obtained a $4.0 million arbitration award from JAMS for breach of an executive employment agreement (net to executive/client $3.2 million).

During COVID year 2020 when jury trials were suspended, Mr. Clouse served as lead trial counsel in a complex Zoom arbitration seeking more than $20 million in damages and a state court Zoom bench trial seeking more than $3 million in damages.

In September 2018, Mr. Clouse obtained a $3.7 million jury verdict for breach of contract for failing to provide supplemental retirement benefits to a church’s former Executive Pastor and his wife (net to client $2.6 million).

In January 2017, Mr. Clouse successfully defended a request for injunctive relief against his senior-executive client in federal district court in Iowa.

During October-November 2016, Mr. Clouse successfully defended multiple executives during a 7-week jury trial involving claims for breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of trade secrets and civil conspiracy—seeking more than $300 million in damages.

In November 2015, Mr. Clouse successfully defended a senior-bank executive against claims seeking more than $20 million in damages. The plaintiff/company was awarded zero ($0) damages, and Mr. Clouse obtained an arbitration award for over $600,000 (net to client $400,000) on a counterclaim against the former employer.

In May 2013, Mr. Clouse obtained a $1.1 million arbitration award in a breach of employment contract case (net to client $1 million).

In November 2011, Mr. Clouse successfully defended a Dallas law firm in a retaliatory discharge lawsuit in federal district court.

In April 2009, Mr. Clouse successfully defended a company in a two-week wrongful discharge jury trial in Texas state court.

In January 2007, Mr. Clouse obtained a $1.2 million arbitration award in a breach of employment contract case before the AAA (net to client $900,000).

In February 2004, Mr. Clouse obtained a “defense verdict” after a three-week jury trial in Dallas County District Court.

In November 2001, Mr. Clouse obtained a $7.4 million jury verdict in a breach of contract and sex discrimination lawsuit (net to client $5.8 million).