Hillary Schwab's practice focuses on plaintiff-side employment litigation.  Her case load is split between class actions brought on behalf of individuals whose rights have been violated under the wage laws and cases on behalf of individuals who have suffered discrimination based on race, gender, disability, or age and/or have suffered retaliation for challenging their employers’ unlawful employment practices.

After law school, Hillary clerked for Judge Robert P. Patterson, Jr. in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and then for Judge Leonard I. Garth for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  Hillary then spent a year at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York as a Blackmun Fellow, litigating cases concerning reproductive rights in state and federal courts all over the country.  She served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Environmental Protection Unit at the Wisconsin Department of Justice from 2003 to 2005.

In the News

Hard Rock Cafe rocked by FLSA action over tips
Law 360 | April 29, 2010

Diabetic to begin career as diplomat
The Boston Globe | December 12, 2009

Officer wins $165,000 in suit against Stoughton
The Boston Globe | February 3, 2009

Hillary has been named as one of the Up and Coming Lawyers of 2008 by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, in recognition of her work successfully representing restaurant workers and skycaps in cases brought under the Massachusetts Tips Law.

Major Cases

Awuah et al. v. Coverall North America, Inc., 2009 WL 159423 (1st Cir. 2009) (First Circuit affirmed trial court's ruling that court, rather than arbitrator, may decide whether arbitration clause is unconscionable)

Robert J. Welch v. Christopher Ciampa and Town of Stoughton (1st Cir. 2008): Obtained reversal by the First Circuit Court of Appeals of trial court's decision granting summary judgment to defendants in a case in which a police sergeant brought claims under First Amendment and Massachusetts Whistleblower Act, challenging his demotion after his participation in a grand jury investigation into police misconduct and his refusal to support the political candidate endorsed by his supervisors.

Don DiFiore et al. v. American Airlines (U.S. Dist. Ct. Mass. 2008) (jury verdict in favor of skycaps, finding that airline violated state tips law and interfered with skycaps' relationship with passengers by charging $2 per bag and not allowing skycaps to keep the proceeds of the charge)

Donald Benoit et al. v. The Federalist, Inc., (Suffolk Superior Court 2007) (jury verdict in favor of class of Federalist restaurant waitstaff who did not receive total proceeds of service charges added to function bills)

Calcagno, et al. v. High Country Investor, Inc., d/b/a Hilltop Steak House, Essex County Superior Court Case No. 03-0707:  Co-counsel in case in which plaintiffs won a jury verdict totaling approximately $2 million on claims that the Hilltop Steak House had failed to distribute all service charges from functions to servers in violation of the Massachusetts Tips Law and had fired the four named plaintiffs in retaliation for them asserting their rights under the wage laws.

Cooney, et al. v. Compass Group Foodservice and Northeastern University, 69 Mass. App. Ct. 632 (Mass. App. Ct. Aug. 1, 2007):  Co-counsel in case in which the Massachusetts Appeals Court held that Northeastern’s “service charges” for functions were “service charges” within the meaning of the Massachusetts Tips Law and that, therefore, Northeastern was required to distribute to servers the total proceeds from those service charges.

State of Wisconsin v. Menard, Inc., Eau Claire County:  As an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin, prosecuted one of the largest home improvement store chains in the country for violations of environmental wastewater discharge and hazardous waste laws.  Obtained the largest court-ordered penalty for an environmental violation ever in the State of Wisconsin (more than $2 million).

Simat Corp. v. Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, 203 Ariz. 454, 56 P.3d 28 (Ariz. 2002): While a Blackmun Fellow at the Center for Reproductive Rights, co-counsel in case in which the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that, under the Arizona Constitution. The state could not refuse to fund abortions for indigent women whose health was threatened by pregnancy.

Education

Columbia Law School, J.D., 1999
Columbia Law Review, Notes Committee, 1998-99

Brown University, A.B. 1995
Major:  Classics—Greek and Latin
Studied at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, Italy, spring 1994

Bar and Court Admissions

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

State of New York

Federal courts:

• U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits
• U.S. District Courts for the District of Massachusetts, Southern District of New York, Eastern District of Wisconsin, and Western District of Wisconsin

Hillary Schwab
Partner

tel 617-994-5800
fax 617-994-5801
hschwab@llrlaw.com

Practice Areas

Employment law, including class action wage and hour litigation and individual discrimination and retaliation cases (in state and federal court)

Staff Assistant

Meredith Horwitz
MHorwitz@llrlaw.com