All posts by Becky L'Abbe

IBM Briefing at the Second Circuit

In Re: IBM Arbitration Agreement Litigation, No. 22-1728 (2d Cir.)
District Court Opinion
Plaintiffs’ Opening Brief
IBM’s Response Brief
Plaintiffs’ Reply Brief

Chandler v. International Business Machines Corp., No. 22-1733 (2d Cir.)
District Court Opinion
Plaintiff’s Opening Brief
IBM’s Response Brief
Plaintiff’s Reply Brief

Lodi v. International Business Machines Corp., No. 22-1737 (2d Cir.)
District Court Opinion
Plaintiff’s Opening Brief
IBM’s Response Brief
Plaintiff’s Reply Brief

Tavenner v. International Business Machines Corp., No. 22-2318 (2d Cir.)
District Court Opinion
Plaintiff’s Opening Brief
IBM’s Response Brief
Plaintiff’s Reply Brief

Jane Farrell

Jane Farrell is an associate at the firm and passionate about telling workers’ stories and holding employers accountable. Most recently, Jane clerked for the Honorable Kimberly J. Mueller, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Before that, she worked as an associate at a plaintiff-side employment firm in San Francisco.

As a student at UCLA School of Law, Jane specialized in public interest law and policy. She served as editor in chief of the UCLA Journal of Gender and the Law and as chair of the Race, Work, and Economic Justice Clinic, which partnered with the Los Angeles Black Worker Center and Legal Aid at Work to provide free legal services for workers. During law school, Jane also externed for the Honorable Jacqueline H. Nguyen on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, clerked for a plaintiff-side employment firm, and worked as a research assistant for two professors.

Before law school, Jane was a policy advisor to then-Secretary Tom Perez at the U.S. Department of Labor, where she helped expand access to earned sick time and paid family and medical leave. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, she researched and wrote about the changing nature of work, rising inequality, equal pay, and women’s rights at the Center for American Progress and then the Clinton Foundation, authoring dozens of publications over five years.

Jane has published articles in three law journals, including the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, the leading law review for employment and labor law scholarship.

EDUCATION

UCLA School of Law, J.D.
Emory University, B.A., Political Science

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Member, State Bar of California, 2021

Bradley Manewith

Bradley Manewith is a partner with Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C.  Brad has focused his career on representing workers who have been mistreated by their employers. He has extensive experience litigating and negotiating wage and hour claims on behalf of classes of employees. Brad also regularly represents individuals with issues related to unpaid commissions and other compensation, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and workplace discrimination.

Brad has represented employees in wide variety of industries, including delivery drivers, restaurant workers, food manufacturers, and exotic dancers. He has obtained class certification and summary judgment on behalf of his clients, and he has been involved in multiple successful landmark appellate cases. Brad has recovered millions of dollars for the workers he has represented.

Brad is recognized by his peers and opponents as a highly knowledgeable and effective employment law litigator. He has been named a “Super Lawyer” for employment litigation by Illinois Super Lawyers since 2019, and was recognized as a “Rising Star”  from 2013 until 2018.  He has also been named “Leading Lawyer.”  Brad currently serves as a member of the Executive Board for the Illinois Chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association.

Prior to joining Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C., Brad was a partner at a Chicago-based plaintiff employment law firm.

Education

University of Illinois, College of Law, J.D., cum laude
University of Illinois, B.A. in political science; B.A. in History

Bar and court admissions

Member, State Bar of Illinois, 2003
Member of the Trial Bar for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2013

Admitted to practice before the Illinois Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois and the Central District of Illinois.

COURT-AUTHORIZED NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION

O’Grady v. Merchant Exchange Prods. dba The Julia Morgan Ballroom,

CGC-15-547796 (San. Fran. Sup. Ct.)

If you worked as banquet server or bartender at the Julia Morgan Ballroom as an employee in 2011 or 2012 (or worked banquet events at the Julia Morgan Ballroom through a staffing company), you are a member of the certified class in the O’Grady case. Plaintiff claims a service charge was imposed on banquet events held at the Julia Morgan Ballroom and was kept by defendant rather than being paid to service staff who worked there between September 8, 2011 and July 1, 2019.

In order to participate in this case, you do not need to do anything. To be excluded from this lawsuit, you must either send an e-mail to juliamorganlawsuit@simpluris.com with your name, address, and the statement, “Please exclude me from the Julia Morgan Ballroom lawsuit,” or a letter containing this information to: P.O. Box 26170 Santa Ana, CA 92799. The deadline to request exclusion is April 8, 2022.

If you have any questions about this Notice or would like more information about this lawsuit, you may write, call, or e-mail Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C., at (617) 994-5800, or e-mail apagano@llrlaw.com.

Mel Gonzalez

As a lawyer, Mel previously worked at Make the Road New York as an Equal Justice Works Fellow, where he advocated for NYC’s restaurant delivery workers to improve working conditions in traditional and new on-demand economy through organizing, direct representation, education, and policy reform. Later he worked on the worker’s rights team at Takeroot Justice and the Gender Equality Law Center. He has also worked at Al Otro Lado and Centro de los Derechos del Migrante in Mexico, assisting asylum seekers and migrant farmworkers. Mel has published two law review articles about the intersection of bail reform and consumer protection. Before becoming a lawyer, Mel was a teacher in Chicago. Outside of work, Mel enjoys playing music and rock climbing.

Publications

Mel Gonzalez et al., Crimsumerism: Combating Consumer Abuses in the Criminal Legal System, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 2019

54 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 107 (2019)

Mel Gonzalez, Consumer Protection for Criminal Defendants: Regulating Commercial Bail in California, California Law Review, 2018

106 Calif. L. Rev. 1379 (2018)

EDUCATION

University of California, Berkeley, J.D.
University of Illinois, Masters in Education
University of Chicago, Bachelor of Arts

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Member, State Bar of New York

Matthew Carrieri

Matt is an employee- and union-side labor and employment lawyer who represents workers in wage and hour litigation, independent contractor misclassification actions, discrimination claims, and labor disputes. Matt has represented ride share and delivery drivers, construction laborers, grocery store workers, exotic dancers, and tech workers in class and individual actions against major corporations and other employers.

Prior to joining Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C., Matt practiced litigation and employment law at a major international law firm.

During law school, Matt was a research assistant at Harvard’s Labor and Worklife Program, where he worked on the Clean Slate for Worker Power project, and a regular contributor to OnLabor.org. He also represented refugee claimants in Massachusetts and at the Texas-Mexico border as a student attorney at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic and served as Co-Director of the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Education

Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude
New York University, M.A. Near Eastern Studies
McGill University, B.A. Middle East Studies, Dean’s Honor List; First Class Honors

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, 2019

Member, Law Society of Ontario, 2023

Admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeal for the First Circuit

Matthew Patton

Matthew Patton is a committed advocate for economic and social justice who represents workers in wage and hour litigation, employment discrimination matters, and labor disputes in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies. He is currently engaged in a number of collective and class actions and individual employment matters involving workers across industries in the private and public sectors.

Prior to joining Lichten & Liss-Riordan, Matt developed and litigated healthcare fraud recovery actions under the federal False Claims Act and RICO Act.

While in law school, Matt assisted the City of Boston in enforcing landlord compliance with low-income rental restrictions to ensure tenants were not being taken advantage of. Prior to practicing law, Matt worked to advance issues critical to reducing income inequality, such as an increase to the minimum wage, paid sick leave, and universal pre-kindergarten. Throughout his adult life Matt has volunteered with the Special Olympics International—including assisting in the launch of their campaign to end discrimination against individuals with intellectual disabilities–Spread the Word to End the Word.

IN THE NEWS

Troopers sue Mass. State Police for alleged discrimination against new parents
Boston Globe | March, 2022

EDUCATION

New England Law Boston, J.D., 2018
The Catholic University of America, B.A., 2005

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, 2018

Admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts