People: Ellen E. McLaughlin, Partner
Biography
Ms. McLaughlin is a partner in the Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP and former past national Chair of the Labor & Employment Law Department. She is engaged in a broad-based employment and labor relations law practice, specializing in federal and state court and administrative agency employment litigation. Ms. McLaughlin also has an extensive advice and counseling practice that focuses on avoiding litigation. She regularly consults with employers to implement nationwide practices and systems which are both legally compliant and which meet an employer’s business needs.
Ms. McLaughlin is a frequent lecturer on a wide variety of employment and labor law topics. Ms. McLaughlin has served as a guest lecturer for the American Bar Association, National Employment Law Institute, Society for Human Resource Management, Corporate Counsel Institute, American Arbitration Association, American Hospital Association, Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, Illinois State Bar Association, Retail Industry Leaders Association, American Hospitality & Lodging Association, and Metropolitan Chicago Health Care Council. She has written extensively on employment issues and co-authored “A Client’s Guide to the ADA, FMLA and Workers’ Compensation,” The Journal of the American Corporate Counsel Association as well as “Training Becomes Important Step to Avoid Liability,” The National Law Journal. She also co authored the “The Family and Medical Leave Act” and “Employee Selection Procedures” chapters in Federal Employment Laws and Regulations and Employment Discrimination — How to Comply, both R.A. Apland publications. She also authored “Physicians and the ADA: Examining Current Policies,” Medical Staff Leader, “Status of Staff Physicians Uncertain under the ADA,” Quality Management Update, and “Physicians and the ADA,” Hospitals Magazine. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Labor and Employment and Litigation Sections and the Chicago Bar Association.
She co-authored comments to the EEOC’s proposed regulations for the ADA as well as the ADA Amendments Act, and comments to the DOL’s proposed regulations for the FMLA on behalf of national employer coalitions. In June 2011, she was one of two management attorneys in the country invited by the EEOC to testify at a public hearing on the issue of leave as a reasonable accommodation. She speaks on a national basis on leave issues and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost ADA and FMLA experts.
Ms. McLaughlin is a partner in the Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP and former past national Chair of the Labor & Employment Law Department. She is engaged in a broad-based employment and labor relations law practice, specializing in federal and state court and administrative agency employment litigation. Ms. McLaughlin also has an extensive advice and counseling practice that focuses on avoiding litigation. She regularly consults with employers to implement nationwide practices and systems which are both legally compliant and which meet an employer’s business needs.
Ms. McLaughlin is a frequent lecturer on a wide variety of employment and labor law topics. Ms. McLaughlin has served as a guest lecturer for the American Bar Association, National Employment Law Institute, Society for Human Resource Management, Corporate Counsel Institute, American Arbitration Association, American Hospital Association, Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, Illinois State Bar Association, Retail Industry Leaders Association, American Hospitality & Lodging Association, and Metropolitan Chicago Health Care Council. She has written extensively on employment issues and co-authored “A Client’s Guide to the ADA, FMLA and Workers’ Compensation,” The Journal of the American Corporate Counsel Association as well as “Training Becomes Important Step to Avoid Liability,” The National Law Journal. She also co authored the “The Family and Medical Leave Act” and “Employee Selection Procedures” chapters in Federal Employment Laws and Regulations and Employment Discrimination — How to Comply, both R.A. Apland publications. She also authored “Physicians and the ADA: Examining Current Policies,” Medical Staff Leader, “Status of Staff Physicians Uncertain under the ADA,” Quality Management Update, and “Physicians and the ADA,” Hospitals Magazine. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Labor and Employment and Litigation Sections and the Chicago Bar Association.
She co-authored comments to the EEOC’s proposed regulations for the ADA as well as the ADA Amendments Act, and comments to the DOL’s proposed regulations for the FMLA on behalf of national employer coalitions. In June 2011, she was one of two management attorneys in the country invited by the EEOC to testify at a public hearing on the issue of leave as a reasonable accommodation. She speaks on a national basis on leave issues and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost ADA and FMLA experts.
Education
- J.D., University of Notre Dame Law School (1981)
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B.A., University of Notre Dame (1978)
cum laude
Admissions
- Illinois
Courts
- Trial Bar, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Circuits








