Athena Herman began practicing law with Benassi & Benassi immediately after graduating from law school in 1997. She was privileged to learn employment law and litigation with Patricia Benassi, a co-founder of Benassi & Benassi with her husband, A. Lou Benassi. While Lou Benassi focused on family law, medical malpractice and personal injury, Patricia Benassi and Athena Herman worked as a team on civil rights/employment cases on behalf of employees. Together, they obtained the biggest jury verdicts of the firm’s history, including Ryan & Gillespie v. DCFS (Constitutional rights, $4.9 million); David v. Caterpillar (Title VII, $850,000); and Albright v. Caterpillar (workers’ compensation retaliation, $1.76 million). They also obtained many favorable settlements against some of the largest employers, e.g., Radmanovich & Mausshardt v. Combined Insurance Company of America (class action sex discrimination, $9 million); Woodward v. Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America (class action race discrimination); Burwell v. City of Peoria ($550,000 gender discrimination and retaliation for a single plaintiff); and $1.1 million on behalf of a white security guard and white teachers against Peoria Public School District 150 (“reverse” race discrimination and retaliation). Learn More: https://www.athenahermanlaw.com
Charlie Wysong is a partner with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd. He counsels and represents clients on a wide range of legal issues, with a focus on civil rights, labor and employment litigation, whistleblower and qui tam claims, education law, and complex business litigation. He actively litigates in state and federal court, including appeals before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Illinois Appellate Court. He also represents clients before administrative agencies such as the Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Department of Human Rights, and National Labor Relations Board. Learn more: hsplegal.com
Jennifer Mondino is Director of Legal Programs, TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund. Immediately prior to joining the National Women’s Law Center in August 2018, Jennifer spent eight years as a Senior Trial Attorney with the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where her practice focused on pattern-or-practice investigations of police departments and other law enforcement agencies, including litigating and negotiating settlement agreements to resolve investigative findings. She played a leading role in the DOJ’s investigation of the Baltimore Police Department, litigation against Sheriff Joseph Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, the investigation of law enforcement in Missoula, Montana, the DOJ Civil Rights Division’s first pattern-or-pattern investigation to focus on the collective law enforcement response to allegations of sexual assault, and in drafting the DOJ guidance released in 2015 on preventing gender bias in the law enforcement response to sexual assault and domestic violence. During her tenure with the DOJ, she also spent a year on detail as an Attorney Advisor with the DOJ’s Office of Violence Against Women (OVW), where she provided policy advice to the Department and legal counsel to OVW and its grantees. Ms. Mondino’s legal career has been focused on civil rights and women’s rights issues, with a particular emphasis on legal advocacy on behalf of undocumented women and survivors of sexual and domestic violence. Her previous experience includes working for the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office, the Safe Horizon Domestic Violence Law Project in New York City, and the international law firm Mayer Brown LLP. She received her J.D. from the New York University School of Law and B.S. from the University of Virginia. Learn More: https://nwlc.org/times-up-legal-defense-fund https://nwlc.org
This week Amit and Max recap a couple of stories from the NFL related to employment law and give a shout out to all of our amazing guest from 2021.
This week Karen Doran returns to talk about her work on VESSA law & cases related to sexual harassment. Learn More: https://www.karendoranlaw.com
Rachel Ablin is the founder of Ablin Law, PC, a firm that specializes in providing employers with expert, professional and confidential workplace investigation solutions in the areas of harassment, discrimination, policy and employee code of conduct violations and other legal violations. Ms. Ablin has extensive employment law experience working with both employers and employees. Prior to starting Ablin Law, she worked for over 19 years as in-house employment counsel for Walgreens. In her role at Walgreens, she provided expert legal counsel to clients on a broad spectrum of employment and labor law issues. Learn More: https://ablinlaw.com/
Amit and Max go over the recent NBA workplace harassment accusations within the Suns organization.
Michele Katz, the founder of the intellectual property law firm Advitam IP, LLC, has provided powerful expertise in client counseling, strategic analysis, licensing, prosecution and litigation in all areas of intellectual property (IP) law for 20+ years. Her diverse skill set and drive to deliver results applies equally to obtaining trademark and copyright registrations and issued patents, as it does in obtaining favorable outcomes in state and federal court and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), US Customs, and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. As a certified mediator, Michele has also brought parties to creative solutions for their disputes. Learn More: www.advitamip.com
This week we break down the ongoing scandal and resignation of former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden.
