Firm News
Aug 5, 2010
Seyfarth Shaw Welcomes Eric M. Steinert as Partner to the Labor & Employment Department of the San Francisco Office
San Francisco, CA (August 5, 2010)—Seyfarth Shaw LLP, one of America’s leading full-service law firms, today announced that Eric M. Steinert has rejoined the firm in its San Francisco office as a partner in the Labor & Employment Department.
Beginning in 2007, he previously served as Vice President and Senior Employment Counsel for Wachovia Corporation, where he oversaw West Coast employment law matters for all lines of businesses, including retail brokerage, mortgage, and retail bank. Pursuant to the merger, he joined the Wells Fargo law department in 2009 as Senior Counsel. Prior to Wachovia and Wells Fargo, he was an attorney in Seyfarth’s Los Angeles office, as a partner from 2003-2007, and as an associate from 2000-2003. Prior to joining Seyfarth, he practiced labor and employment law in Los Angeles for two prominent firms and was a federal judicial law clerk in the Central District of California.
Steinert has experience handling virtually every type of matter in the employment law arena, including: disputes involving issues of wrongful discharge, race, age, gender, disability and national origin discrimination, retaliation, harassment, trade secrets, unfair competition, raiding and recruiting, independent contractor agreements, and wage and hour. In addition, he has a strong background in traditional labor law, including: experience in union organizing campaigns, arbitrations, representation cases and defending ULP charges before the NLRB. He also has experience defending wage and hour class actions and is a member of the firm’s Wage & Hour Litigation Practice Group.
Steinert’s practice is focused on representing clients in the financial services industry, and he has represented financial services companies extensively in FINRA arbitrations, wage and hour class actions and single-plaintiff employment litigation.
“We are thrilled to welcome Eric back to Seyfarth. His practice touches upon nearly every type of employment matter from wage and hour litigation to traditional labor law. In addition, his experience representing clients in the financial industry will further strengthen our offering in this arena,” said Lisa J. Damon, Chair of Seyfarth Shaw’s Labor & Employment Department. “Eric is truly a jack of all trades and his experience adds tremendous value to our firm.”
Seyfarth Shaw’s Labor & Employment Department consists of nearly 350 employment attorneys nationally at all levels of experience, allowing seamless representation of the firm’s clients across jurisdictions. The firm’s labor and employment lawyers are organized to leverage their knowledge of specific industry experience and key workplace subspecialties. The Wage & Hour Litigation Practice Group draws upon the counseling and litigation experience of its more than 80 attorneys in offices across the country. The group has litigated hundreds of complex wage and hour cases in state and federal courts, before administrative agencies, and on a multi-jurisdictional basis. In nearly every federal district and circuit court and in courts of almost every state, the group has successfully defended a broad array of such claims.
“Eric is a highly respected, skilled attorney, and a consummate team player,” said Nick C. Geannacopulos, Managing Partner of the firm’s San Francisco office. “We are very excited to welcome Eric back to our firm.”
Seyfarth Shaw’s San Francisco office opened in 1984 and has seen steady growth over the last few years. It is a full-service office and has lawyers with significant experience in labor and employment, international labor matters, real estate, litigation, government contracts, construction matters and bankruptcy.
“I couldn’t be happier to call Seyfarth home again,” said Steinert. “I can’t think of a more consistently impressive group of labor and employment lawyers, and more importantly, great people who have been close friends and trusted colleagues for so many years.”
Steinert earned his B.A. from Rice University (cum laude) and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School Law. He is admitted to practice law in the state of California, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the Central, Southern, Northern, and Eastern 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.