Employment Lawyer

Employment Attorney — Sterling & Thorne LLP

Chicago, IL | January 2023 – Present

• Defended 8 corporate clients in federal FLSA class actions using Relativity for document review, reducing settlement payouts by an average of 42% against initial demands and saving clients $1.6M in damages.
• Secured 'No Reasonable Cause' determinations in 26 out of 29 discrimination charges before the EEOC and state civil rights commissions by utilizing Westlaw to draft targeted position statements.
• Conducted 11 comprehensive wage-and-hour compliance audits for mid-market clients, restructuring compensation classifications for 850+ employees to eliminate $420,000 in potential back-pay liability.
• Formulated 32 customized employee handbooks, non-compete agreements, and executive severance packages using Clio, resulting in a 100% enforcement rate and zero litigation claims filed over 3 years.

Associate Attorney (Labor & Employment) — Garrison Law Group LLP

Chicago, IL | September 2021 – December 2022

• Managed document production and deposition prep for 15 federal and state employment litigation files, drafting summary judgment motions via Westlaw that won dismissal in 4 complex cases.
• Investigated 14 internal workplace harassment, retaliation, and misconduct complaints for enterprise logistics clients, delivering comprehensive reports that reduced internal complaints by 35% in 2022.
• Overhauled multi-state leave policies and compliance guides using Clio for 18 mid-market corporate entities, aligning processes with FMLA and state-specific regulations to reduce infraction rates by 28%.
• Advised 22 corporate HR departments on ADA accommodations and disciplinary protocols using LexisNexis to analyze precedents, mitigating legal risk and avoiding lawsuits in 95% of high-risk terminations.

Employment litigation, FLSA class actions, Title VII defense, ADA accommodations, FMLA compliance, EEOC representation, Contract negotiation, Policy drafting, Workplace investigations, LexisNexis, Westlaw, Clio, Relativity, Microsoft Office

Multi-State Employee Handbook Overhaul

Role: Lead Employment Counsel

Tools: Clio, Westlaw, MS Word, Slack

Overhauled handbooks for a retail client with 1,200+ employees across 5 states, reducing labor policy compliance infractions by 32% in the first 12 months.

Wage-and-Hour Classification Audit

Role: Compliance Counsel

Tools: Excel, LexisNexis, Clio, Teams

Conducted a compensation audit of 650 positions for a manufacturing firm, identifying 22 misclassified roles and mitigating $280,000 in potential FLSA back-pay liability.

• Admission to the Illinois State Bar (2021)
• Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US) (2023)

• Languages: English (Native), Spanish (Conversational)
• Professional Affiliations: Member, American Bar Association (Labor and Employment Law Section)
• Publications: Co-author, 'Navigating Remote Work Leave Laws under FMLA' in Illinois Bar Journal (2024)