Seyfarth Shaw’s Labor & Employment Department Welcomes Jeffrey A. Berman as Partner and Joan E. Smiles as Of Counsel in Los Angeles

With nearly 40 years of experience, Berman has helped shape state and federal law in a variety of areas.

Los Angeles, CA (June 16, 2010)—Seyfarth Shaw LLP, one of America’s leading full-service law firms, today announced that Jeffrey A. Berman has joined the firm’s Los Angeles office as a partner in the Labor & Employment Department. He is joined by Joan E. Smiles, Of Counsel. Both were previously with Sidley Austin LLP.

Berman’s practice spans traditional labor work and employment litigation, including a significant amount of complex, representative and class actions under both state and federal law. Berman has represented employers in nearly all of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) regional offices in the Western United States, as well as before state and federal trial and appellate courts. He has represented management in a variety of industries, including major medical centers, universities, religious institutions, newspaper publishers, airlines, banks, motion picture and television producers, insurance companies, and manufacturers. His appellate practice and his work with the California Legislature and state and federal administrative agencies has impacted state and federal labor and employment law in a variety of areas. 

“Jeff is a tremendously accomplished and respected labor and employment attorney who is particularly adroit at handling complex matters on behalf of large medical institutions,” said Lisa J. Damon, Chair of Seyfarth Shaw’s Labor & Employment Department. “Both Jeff and Joan are tenacious advocates for their clients. They will fit right in with their labor and employment colleagues throughout the country.”

Seyfarth Shaw’s Labor & Employment practice is organized to provide extraordinary, cost-effective results for their clients. The department’s deep team, with over 350 employment attorneys at all levels of experience in the firm’s ten U.S. offices, includes over 100 employment lawyers in California. Seyfarth’s approach is distinguished by a focus on in-depth knowledge within the broad field of employment law and litigation. The firm’s employment attorneys are organized to leverage their comprehension of key workplace subspecialties, such as employment class actions, wage and hour issues, employee benefits lawsuits, workplace safety matters, and labor-management relations disputes, to name a few. They are also organized by industry groups to develop a thorough understanding of their clients’ needs, which allows the attorneys to be best positioned to deliver superior results. 

“In addition to being skilled lawyers, Jeff and Joan place a high value on teamwork, which is a hallmark of how we practice law at Seyfarth Shaw,” said Kenwood C. Youmans, Managing Partner of the firm’s Los Angeles offices. “We are delighted to welcome them to our team in Los Angeles.”

Seyfarth Shaw opened its Los Angeles office in 1973 with two partners from its Chicago office. Today, it is a full-service office that has more than 125 lawyers with significant experience in business transactions, intellectual property, trust & estates, commercial litigation, employee benefits, and international & employment law. A true testament to the firm’s commitment to growth is the opening of an office in Downtown Los Angeles in April of 2009, which expanded the firm’s presence in Los Angeles and allows it to better meet the needs of its many Southern California clients. Through their pro bono work and contributions of their time, talent and treasure to many charitable organizations and worthy causes, attorneys and staff in both Los Angeles offices make a studied effort to give back to the community of which the firm has been a proud part for over 35 years.

“Joan and I are delighted to join Seyfarth’s amazingly talented team of over 100 California employment attorneys, and we look forward to collaborating with our colleagues throughout the country,” said Berman. “Our clients will benefit from Seyfarth’s deep bench of over 350 labor and employment attorneys across the country and the array of strong practice offerings that the firm can provide.”

Berman is an alumnus of the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned his B.A. (with honors), and he earned his J.D. at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law where he served as an Associate Editor of the Law Review. He is a member of the California Bar and admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts of the Eastern, Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California. He is the Chair of the Amicus Committee and member of the Legal Committee of the nation’s oldest association of employers, and a fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Smiles earned her B.A. from Vassar College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. She earned her J.D. from the University of Southern California Law Center where she was Order of the Coif. In addition, Smiles was a Fulbright Graduate Fellow. A member of the California Bar, Smiles is admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts of the Eastern, Northern and Central Districts of California.

Seyfarth Shaw has over 750 attorneys located in ten offices throughout the United States including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Washington D.C., as well as Brussels, Belgium. Seyfarth Shaw provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation, corporate, and real estate. The firm’s practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the country’s business and social fabric. Clients include over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, newspapers and other media, hotels, health care organizations, airlines and railroads. The firm also represents a number of federal, state, and local governmental and educational entities. For more information, please visit www.seyfarth.com.