Kelly Geddes is a trial attorney dedicated to holding large corporations accountable for their actions, defending the rights of workers, and fighting systemic injustice. Prior to joining Lichten & Liss-Riordan, Kelly worked in the National Courts section of the Department of Justice as an Honors Attorney, where she represented Federal agencies in contract disputes, employment actions, and administrative challenges brought in the Federal Circuit.  Before DOJ, Kelly clerked for the Honorable Mark L. Wolf at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

During law school, Kelly was an articles editor for the University of Chicago Law Review, and she published a student note addressing the possibility of holding transnational corporations accountable in U.S. courts for human rights violations abroad. 

Education

The University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 2020
University of Chicago, B.A. in Fundamentals: Issues and Texts, with general honors, 2017

Bar Admissions

Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, 2021

Hoda Katebi is a civil rights and employment attorney committed to fighting for and alongside workers. She represents clients in individual and class action matters in a range of issues including discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, retaliation, misclassification, and other labor disputes.

Alongside her legal work at LLR, Hoda is community organizer and writer. She is also the founding member of Blue Tin Production, a garment worker-led co-operative. Hoda has bylines in the LA Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, VOGUE, and has appeared on Democracy Now, the New York Times, BBC, Associated Press, and other media globally.

Education

Berkeley Law, J.D., 2023
University of Chicago, B.A. in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies, with honors, 2016

Bar and Court Admissions

Member, State Bar of California, 2023

Admitted to practice before U.S. District Court of Central California, U.S. District Court of Northern California and U.S. District Court of Southern New York.

Mike Romano represents employees in class actions, individual trials, and arbitrations.  Prior to joining the firm, Mike was a federal prosecutor.  He was a Deputy Chief of the unit, in Washington, D.C., that prosecuted the January 6 rioters and previously prosecuted violent crime and financial fraud. Mike is passionate about litigation and trial work, having tried more than 40 cases in courts across the country, and brings that same passion to vindicating the rights of workers.  Since 2019, he has served as Head Coach for the American University Mock Trial team.

Education

Washington University in St. Louis Law School, J.D., Order of the Coif, 2007
University of Notre Dame, B.A., summa cum laude, 2004

Bar and Court Admissions

Member, Bar of Washington, D.C., 2025

Member, State Bar of Illinois, 2007

Morine Mitchell is an employment attorney dedicated to protecting employees and addressing systemic injustices. Prior to joining Lichten & Liss-Riordan, Morine clerked for the Honorable Kimberly Mueller of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the Honorable Melissa Long of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and the Honorable Lara Montecalvo of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

During her time at Boston University School of Law, Morine cultivated her expertise in various employment and labor issues. She represented clients as a student attorney in the Employment Rights Clinic where she focused on matters of discrimination and denials of unemployment benefits. She also externed in the Fair Labor Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office; there she worked on cases of wage theft and misclassification of employees as independent contractors. She spent her summers serving as an intern to the Honorable Neile Eisner, an Administrative Law Judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson of the U.S. Court of appeals for the First Circuit.

Education

Boston University Law School, J.D., 2020
Suffolk University, B.A., magna cum laude, 2016

Bar and Court Admissions

Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, 2021

Trevor Byrne is a civil rights and employment attorney who is passionate about vindicating workers’ rights. He represents employees facing a broad range of issues in the workplace, including independent contractor misclassification, wage theft, and discrimination.

Prior to and during law school, Trevor supported civil rights litigation at several prominent nonprofits and plaintiffs’ firms. He also helped clients defend against evictions, obtain post-conviction relief, and secure Social Security benefits through his work with the Stanford Community Law Clinic. After law school, Trevor clerked for the Honorable Carolyn Dineen King of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Education

Stanford Law School, J.D., 2023
Harvard University, A.B., magna cum laude, 2018

Bar and Court Admissions

Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, 2023

Admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Jack Bartholet is a passionate civil rights and labor attorney with a zeal for legal advocacy and a deep-rooted commitment to justice. He represents a diverse array of clients in state and federal courts and is involved in a number of complex class and collective actions on behalf of workers suing large, multinational corporations.

During law school, Jack externed for the Hon. Morgan Christen on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and wrote for OnLabor, a leading labor law blog. He also wrote an unpublished book on the history and meaning of the Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution for academic credit. Jack spent his summers working for the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, where he worked closely with the Civil Rights Prosecution, Policy, and Criminal Appellate units to develop policies and advance cases safeguarding civil liberties, as well as for a respected social and economic justice-oriented firm, where he worked on substantial and complex appellate litigation and labor arbitrations.

Prior to law school, Jack taught English and U.S. History at a large, public high school in Massachusetts. There, he was deeply involved with his local teachers’ union and was elected to serve on the statewide Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Teachers’ Association. Prior to that, Jack served as the Executive President of the Maryland Higher Education Commission’s Student Advisory Council, Executive President of Johns Hopkins University’s student government, and editor-in-chief of the university’s student newspaper.

EDUCATION

Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude, 2023
Johns Hopkins University, B.A. in Political Science, with honors, 2016

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, 2023

Admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits.

Bradley Manewith is a partner with Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C.  Brad has focused his career on representing workers w

ho 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.

Krysten Connon is an experienced and dedicated attorney. She represents workers in disputes against their employers and primarily concentrates her practice on wage and hour class and collective actions arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state laws. Krysten has represented workers from a variety of backgrounds and in various industries, including cable and satellite installers, delivery drivers, and nurses.

Krysten graduated summa cum laude from the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, and she is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maryland. Following law school, Krysten served as a federal judicial law clerk before joining the commercial litigation department of a national law firm, where she represented clients in complex commercial litigation and arbitration matters. Krysten also worked as a Staff Attorney at Women Against Abuse, where she litigated cases originating as domestic violence matters. Prior to joining Lichten & Liss-Riordan, Krysten worked as an attorney in the employment rights group of a plaintiff-side class action law firm.

Additionally, Krysten co-authored the 2015 Oxford University Press book, Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism, which presents the results of extensive interviews with abortion providers around the intersections of law, policy, and anti-abortion violence. She regularly volunteers her time and expertise on issues related to reproductive health, rights, and justice.

Krysten was named a Pennsylvania Rising Star in 2020 and 2021 by Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers. .

EDUCATION

Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, JD, summa cum laude, 2012
University of Maryland – College Park, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 2009

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Member, State Bar of New Jersey, 2013
Member, State Bar of Pennsylvania, 2013

Admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Biography

Sarah R. Schalman-Bergen is a partner at Lichten & Liss-Riordan P.C., who has dedicated her career to creating systemic change for workers and individuals who are not being treated fairly. She has secured numerous significant settlements for the workers she represents, totaling well over $100 million.

While representing workers in all types of industries, Sarah has successfully challenged unlawful business practices involving last-mile logistics companies, cable installation companies, home health aide companies, meat and poultry plants, landscaping companies, in white collar jobs, and in the government. This litigation has resulted both in payment of back wages and in practice changes by the companies.

Sarah also represents clients in antitrust cases involving labor markets. For example, she has prosecuted challenges to “no poach” agreements that allegedly suppressed employees’ wages, and she has defended clients against antitrust claims brought to impede their rights to organize for better working conditions. Sarah also represented the City of Philadelphia against a major bank for allegedly discriminatory practices, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Sarah works in partnership and routinely co-counsels with public interest law firms to lend expertise to their mission in litigation. She has served as volunteer of counsel to the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania for more than a decade, litigating discrimination and HIV-confidentiality cases. Sarah was honored for this work as an “Unsung Hero” by the Legal Intelligencer, Pennsylvania’s daily law journal.

Sarah conducts her practice according to the highest ethical standards, and has received high judicial praise, including being described as “ethical, talented, and motivated to help hard working men and women” and “some of the finest legal representation in the nation.”

Sarah routinely speaks at conferences on issues relating to workers’ rights. She currently serves on Cornell’s ILR-Hotel School CIHLER Advisory Board, and is a Board Member of the Keystone Research Center. Sarah was named a 2020 Pennsylvania Super Lawyer, after being named as a Rising Star in every year over the prior decade. In 2021, she was named in Best Lawyers in America. In 2015, she was honored as a “Lawyer on the Fast Track” by The Legal Intelligencer.

Prior to joining the Firm, Sarah was a partner at a plaintiff-side class action law firm, where she served as co-chair of the firm’s employment rights practice group. She has also practiced in the litigation department at a large Philadelphia firm, where she represented clients in a variety of industries in complex commercial litigation. Sarah received her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School and her B.A. summa cum laude from Tufts University.

PROMINENT JUDGMENTS AND SETTLEMENTS

Hickman v. TL Transportation, LLC, Amazon.com, et al., No. 2:17-cv-01038-GAM; 317 F. Supp. 3d 890; 318 F. Supp. 3d 718 (E.D. Pa. 2020) ($1.8m settlement on behalf of Delivery Associates in wage claim against third party company of Amazon; favorable opinions on liability, personal jurisdiction, individual liability, and conditional certification)

Merino v. Wells Fargo & Co., 2:16-cv-07840-ES-MAH (D.N.J. 2020) (co-lead counsel in $35 million wage and hour settlement on behalf of personal bankers)

Holbert v. Waste Management, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-02649-CMR (E.D. Pa. 2019) (lead counsel in $14.7 million FLSA nationwide settlement on behalf of 31,000 waste collectors)

Nicks v. Koch Meat Co., Inc., No. 16-cv-6446; 2016 WL 6277489; 260 F. Supp. 3d 942; 265 F. Supp. 3d 841 (N.D. Ill. 2019) ($1,832,000 settlement on behalf of chicken catchers in wage claim against national integrated poultry processor; favorable opinions on jurisdiction, corporate entity structure, certification)

City of Philadelphia v. Wells Fargo & Co., 2:17-cv-02203-AB, 2018 WL 424451 (E.D. Pa. 2019) (represented City of Philadelphia in Fair Housing Act litigation resolved for $10 million and injunctive relief for sustainable housing-related programs to promote and preserve homeownership for low- and moderate-income residents.)

Smith v. Allegheny Technologies, Inc., 754 Fed. Appx. 136 (3d Cir. 2018) (allegations by temporary workers hired to cross picket line and work in steel plant during lockout of union workers were sufficient to state claim for travel time compensation under Pennsylvania law)

Beckett v. Aetna, Inc., 2:17-cv-03864 (E.D. Pa. 2018) (Co-lead counsel with AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania and Legal Action Center in $17 million settlement for the largest HIV confidentiality breach in U.S. on behalf of 12,000 class members)

The Broadway League v. Bernard Telsey Casting, Inc., Internat’l Brotherhood of Teamsters Theatrical Drivers and Helpers Local 817, et al., No. 1:17-cv-9515 (S.D.N.Y. 2018) (defended casting directors and union in antitrust action challenging lawfulness of organizing activity)

Smith v. Milton Hershey School, No. 11-7391, 2012 WL 1966125 (E.D. Pa. 2012) ($730,000 and injunctive relief settlement on behalf of 13 year old student alleged to have been refused enrollment in school because of his HIV status)

Canal Side Care Manor, LLC v. Pa. H.R.C., 30 A.3d 568 (Commw. Ct. 2011) (affirming $55,000 trial award on behalf of HIV positive woman denied housing at personal care home)

TIAA-CREF v. Bernardo, 683 F. Supp. 2d 344 (E.D. Pa. 2010) (summary judgment in declaratory judgment action to award retirement benefits to domestic partner of deceased doctor)

EDUCATION

Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude, 2007
Tufts University, B.A., summa cum laude, 2001

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Member, Bar of Pennsylvania, 2007

Admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Sixth, Eighth and Ninth Circuits; U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, District of Colorado, Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, Northern District of New York, Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Indiana, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Tennessee, Southern and Eastern District of Texas, District of Nebraska; and U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.