Seyfarth

Seyfarth Shaw is home to more than 1,000 lawyers across 18 offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, and China. Although it is highly regarded for its labor and employment practice, this full-service firm advises clients on a broad range of legal issues including litigation, tax, immigration, corporate, real estate, and employee benefits. The firm operates with a distinctive client service model called SeyfarthLean, incorporating the Lean Six Sigma method into its practice.

Chi-town Trio

Seyfarth’s labor and employment roots run deep. The firm was founded in Chicago in 1945 by Henry E. Seyfarth, Lee C. Shaw, and Owen Fairweather as a labor and employment firm. Its attorneys helped draft the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 and built strong practices in labor arbitration, pension, and Title VII matters. The firm began expanding across the United States in the 1970s, opening offices in DC, Los Angeles, and New York. Today, the firm has 13 domestic and 5 international offices—including the firm’s Seattle office, which was established in July 2020.

Employment Plus

Seyfarth’s practice spans many legal areas including workouts and bankruptcy, commercial and securities litigation, construction, corporate, employee benefits, environmental law, government contracts, intellectual property, real estate, trade secrets, trusts and estates, and—its specialty—labor and employment. Its clients range from Fortune 100 to midsize companies and startups and include publicly traded and privately held companies, as well as various types of funds. Seyfarth clients represent a variety of industries including financial institutions, newspapers and other media, technology, hotels, healthcare organizations, and airlines.

Seyfarth has one of the largest U.S. labor and employment practices in a full-service firm. With more than 400 attorneys in this practice alone, the firm counsels clients on employment discrimination, international employment law, OSHA/Mine Safety and Health Administration issues, wage and hour litigation, ERISA, California Labor Code litigation, and other topics. The firm is skilled in handling labor matters and regularly appears before the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Supreme Court, the National Mediation Board, state labor boards, and labor arbitrators. The firm consistently ranks among the top five in Vault’s Labor & Employment rankings.

Customized Career Paths

As is fitting for a firm that isn’t afraid to innovate, Seyfarth’s promotion and development structure has moved away from the traditional lockstep model. Associates are compensated and promoted based on their individual merits and at varying rates—which may be either faster or slower than is typical in a class year model, depending on the circumstances. The firm’s professional services group offers alternatives for attorneys by tailoring arrangements according to each attorney’s legal skill level, desired time commitment, and overall aspirations and contributions.

• Lorie Almon, Managing Partner of the Year, 2025—The American Lawyer
• Band 1 rankings for Labor & Employment for the sixth consecutive year and for Retail for the ninth year in a row, 2026—Chambers USA 
• North America Innovative Lawyers Award for Knowledge and Data, 2025—Financial Times
• Named a Women Forward Workplace, 2026—Crain's New York Business
• Named Innovative Firm of the Year North America and Emerging Technology Firm of the Year at The Lawyer's Women in Business Law Americas Awards, 2026—The Lawyer