Of Counsel
Carolyn Gutowski is a civil rights attorney who focuses on protecting the rights of employees. She is Of Counsel at Mansell Law and is admitted to practice in Ohio.
Carolyn began her legal career as an Assistant Attorney General representing the Ohio Civil Rights Commission under then-Attorney General Mike DeWine. She later served as in-house counsel and as management-side counsel, advising employers on the full range of employment issues, from discipline and accommodation requests to federal lawsuits.
How Her Background Helps Employees Today
Few employee-side attorneys have worked from inside the agency, inside the company and across the table as defense counsel. Carolyn has done all three, and each perspective now works for her clients:
- Agency experience. Representing the Ohio Civil Rights Commission taught her how discrimination charges are investigated and evaluated. She knows what makes a charge persuasive from the start and how to present facts the way investigators and decision makers look at them.
- In-house experience. As in-house counsel, she saw how human resources, management and legal departments make decisions about discipline, accommodations and terminations, and how those decisions are documented. That insight helps her identify where a company’s process broke down and which records will matter most.
- Management-side experience. Defending employers showed her how companies and their outside counsel value claims, build defenses and decide when to settle. She uses that knowledge to anticipate the employer’s arguments, strengthen her clients’ positions early and negotiate from a realistic understanding of the risks the company faces.
The result is an advocate who understands the whole picture, not just one side of it, and who uses that understanding to protect employees.
Carolyn has deep experience with federal employment laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act. She has particular depth in the Americans with Disabilities Act and workplace reasonable accommodations.
Outside the office, Carolyn instructs in Crisis Intervention Team certification programs for the Columbus Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, NAMI and ADAMH, including training on interacting with people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has served on the board of Dreams on Horseback, which provides equine therapy to veterans and people with disabilities, and on several Nationwide Children’s Hospital boards and programs.
Carolyn grew up in Northampton, Massachusetts, and lives in Dublin, Ohio, with her husband, two children, two cats and a rescue pitbull. She enjoys time with her family, horseback riding and hiking.
Best Lawyers 2027
Mansell Law
Super Lawyers
Greg Mansell · 2027
Best Law Firms 2027
National Recognition
Chambers Recognition
Employment Law
Recognition
- Best Law Firms (Nationally Ranked) – 2020–2027
- Chambers Spotlight – 2027
Education
- Capital University Law School, J.D., cum laude
- The Ohio State University, B.A., magna cum laude