Biography

Shannon Liss-Riordan is widely recognized as one of the nation’s top plaintiffs’ class action employment lawyers. She has reshaped industries through her pioneering successes representing tipped workers, employees misclassified as independent contractors, and low wage workers who have been denied overtime, minimum wage, and other wage protections. Forbes named her to its inaugural list of America’s Top 200 Lawyers (2024) and again in 2025. Vanity Fair recently profiled her approach to “billionaire justice” in its piece entitled “Elon Musk Keeps Stiffing People. She Keeps Suing Him.”  Best Lawyers in America has called her “the reigning plaintiffs’ champion” (2013) and has said she is “probably the best known wage class action lawyer on the plaintiff side in this area, if not the entire country” (2015). Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly described her on its “Power List” (2009) as a “Tenacious class-action plaintiffs’ lawyer [who] strikes fear in big-firm employment attorneys throughout Boston with her multi-million-dollar victories on behalf of strippers, waiters, skycaps and other non-exempt employees.” Politico named her to its guide to the “Top 50 thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics in 2016”. San Francisco Magazine has said that “Liss-Riordan has achieved a kind of celebrity unseen in the legal world since Ralph Nader sued General Motors.”

For nearly three decades, Ms. Liss-Riordan has brought and won groundbreaking lawsuits that have shaped the law protecting workers in the food service, cleaning, adult entertainment, trucking, and other industries.  Fifteen years ago, she pioneered litigation representing workers in a number of cases against “gig economy” companies that save on labor costs by misclassifying employees as independent contractors and since then has litigated against every major gig company.  She represents employees nationally, at the trial court and appellate levels, and has won landmark appeals across the country, including seven groundbreaking victories at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Some of her most notable cases include victories against Starbucks, FedEx, and American Airlines.  Nearly twenty years ago, she pioneered the legal strategy of filing mass arbitrations against employers who use arbitration agreements to protect themselves from class actions. The Boston Globe has profiled her work twice as a “legal champion” fighting for the rights of low wage workers, and she has also been profiled in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, and the LA Times.

A graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College, Ms. Liss-Riordan co-founded Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. in 2009. Previously she was a partner at a plaintiff-side employment and union law firm in Boston where she worked for more than 10 years after clerking for a federal court judge for two years following law school. In 2019, Ms. Liss-Riordan ran for the U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary for Massachusetts. In 2022, she ran to be Massachusetts Attorney General, a campaign in which she was endorsed by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and many other elected officials and labor unions.

Profiles

Elon Musk Keeps Stiffing People. She Keeps Suing Him
Vanity Fair | June, 2025

Trailblazing Women In Labor Law – Shannon Liss-Riordan
Law360 | March, 2022

Worker Rights Atty Blazes Trail With Whole Foods, Uber Cases
Law360 | July, 2020

Labor Litigator
Harvard Magazine | March – April, 2017

Uber’s Worst Nightmare
San Francisco Magazine | May, 2016

Meet the attorney suing Uber, Lyft, GrubHub and a dozen California tech firms
LA Times | January, 2016

Meet “Sledgehammer Shannon,” the Lawyer Who Is Uber’s Worst Nightmare
Mother Jones | December, 2015

Meet the Boston Lawyer Who’s Putting Uber on Trial
Wall Street Journal | November, 2015

‘Sledgehammer Shannon:’ The attorney taking on Uber and others in the sharing economy
Bizwomen | September, 2015

What Strippers Can Teach Uber
Medium | April, 2015

Lawyer fights for low-wage workers’ rights
Boston Globe | December, 2012

Skycaps and waiters find a legal champion
Boston Globe | April, 2008

Recognitions

Top 250 Women in Litigation, Benchmark Litigation (2024)

America’s Top 200 Lawyers, Forbes (2024) (one of 5 plaintiffs’ employment attorneys)

Top Women of Law, Circle of Excellence, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (2021)

Employee Attorney of the Year (national), Benchmark Litigation (2020)

Robert Morris, Sr. Award for Courage in Litigation, American Board of Trial Advocates, Massachusetts Chapter (2020)

“Top 50 thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics”, Politico (2016)

Top Women of Law, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (2014)

Best Lawyers in America (each year since 2008)

Massachusetts Super Lawyers (each year since 2005)

Lawyer of the Year, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (2002)

Major Appellate Rulings

Patel v. 7-Eleven, Inc., 489 Mass. 356 (2022) (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that franchisees may be employees for purposes of the Wage Act, overturning district court decision that held federal law to preempt Massachusetts law)

Lohnn v. International Business Machines, Inc. (IBM), C.A. No. 21-cv-6379 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 4, 2022), motion to stay denied, No. 22-32 (2d Cir. Feb. 8, 2022) (ordering the unsealing of documents in age discrimination case that IBM attempted to keep hidden through arbitration confidentiality agreement, including highly incriminating emails in which executives disparaged older workers as “dinobabies” and plotted how to make them “an extinct species”)

Lawson v. GrubHub, No. 18-15386 (9th Cir. 2021) (reinstating case challenging GrubHub’s misclassification of drivers in first and only case to date to go to trial against “gig economy” company)

Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising Int’l, 10 Cal.5th 944 (2021) (California Supreme Court decided that landmark Dynamex ABC test applies retroactively); 986 F.3d 1106 (9th Cir. 2021), 923 F.3d 575 (9th Cir. 2019) (in a now 14-year-old case, holding that landmark Dynamex decision applies to misclassification claims against “cleaning franchisor”and applies to top-tier company in multi-tier “fissured employment” scheme; providing guidance on strength of ABC test for employment misclassification; and reinstating wage claims on behalf of janitors who challenged paying for their jobs and other wage violations)

Medina v. Equilon Enterprises, Inc., 68 Cal.App.5th 868 (Cal. Ct. App. 2021) (Court of Appeal reversed summary judgment for Shell, holding that it could be liable for wage violations committed by intermediary entity)

Rittmann v. Amazon.com, Inc., 2020 WL 4814142 (9th Cir. 2020) (in nationwide case challenging driver misclassification, affirming denial of motion to compel arbitration, holding Amazon drivers to be exempt from Federal Arbitration Act under transportation worker exemption)

Sample trial victories

Nnebe v. Daus, No. 06-cv-4991-RJS (S.D. N.Y. Nov. 16, 2023) (test case trial for 10 plaintiff New York taxi drivers in certified class action who suffered due process violations based on not being able to challenge their license suspension due to an arrest)

Ordono v. Marriott International, Inc., No. CGC-16-550454 (Cal. Sup. Ct. Apr. 2023) ($12 million judgment awarded to class of hotel waitstaff, in the first case to go to trial in California challenging employer’s failure to pay employees the total proceeds of “service charges”, which court held that reasonable customers believed were gratuities)

Lawson v. GrubHub, No. 15-cv-05128-JSC (N.D. Cal. Mar. 2023) (in the first trial ever addressing whether a gig worker was misclassified as an independent contractor, court held that GrubHub driver should have been classified as an employee)

Norrell v. Spring Valley Country Club (Mass. Super. 2017) (class action jury verdict for waitstaff)

Travers v. Flight Systems & Services (D. Mass. 2014) (close to $1 million jury verdict in favor of skycap who was terminated in retaliation for bringing wage complaint about policy affecting skycaps’ tips)

DiFiore v. American Airlines (D. 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; verdict led to airline dropping charge nationwide) (damages award reversed on federal preemption grounds)

Benoit v. The Federalist, Inc. (Mass. Super. 2007) (class action jury verdict in favor of waitstaff who did not receive total proceeds of service charges added to function bills)

Bradley v. City of Lynn, 443 F.Supp.2d 145 (D.Mass. 2006) (class action verdict finding state civil service exam had disparate impact on minorities, resulting in statewide hiring of more than 60 minority firefighters and police officers)

Calcagno v. High Country Investor, Inc. d/b/a Hilltop Steakhouse (Mass. Super. 2006) (class action jury verdict finding management illegally skimmed servers’ gratuities)

Sprague v. United Airlines, Inc., 2002 WL 1803733 (D. Mass 2002) (judgment of $1.1 million in a discrimination case brought by deaf airline mechanic who had been denied employment based on disability)

Dahill v. Boston Police Department, 434 Mass. 233 (2001) (Supreme Judicial Court decided that Massachusetts law would diverge from federal law in prohibiting discrimination against individuals with correctable disabilities, resulting in hiring of hearing-impaired police officer candidate and jury verdict of nearly $1 million)

Education

Harvard Law School, J.D., 1996
Harvard College, A.B., 1990

Bar and Court Admissions

Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, 1999
Member, State Bar of New York, 1999
Member, State Bar of California, 2016

Admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeal for the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits.

Matthew Thomson is a partner at Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. and has proudly represented workers since he joined the firm in 2013.  His practice focuses mainly on class actions relating to the misclassification of employees as independent contractors and violations of wage and hour laws.  Matt also represents employees in gender, age, and handicap discrimination cases and wrongful termination and whistleblower cases.

Matt has represented employees from a number of industries, including delivery drivers, bread distributors, cable and satellite installation technicians, couriers, exotic dancers, waitstaff employees, automobile detailers, carnival workers, and movers.  These lawsuits have resulted in workers across the country recovering tens of millions of dollars in unpaid wages.  Matt has obtained class certification and summary judgment on behalf of workers in state and federal courts, and he has drafted winning appellate briefs in both federal and state courts.  Matt has also tried cases in state and federal courts as well as in arbitration.

Matt was recently part of the team of lawyers that obtained the first holding under California law that exotic dancers were “employees” of the club at which they worked pursuant to the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision.

In 2014, Matt and his colleagues obtained a jury verdict of close to $1 million for a municipal employee asserting whistleblower claims against his employer.

Matt has been named a “Rising Star” by Massachusetts Super Lawyers every year from 2015 to 2020. In 2015, he and his colleagues received the “Zealous Advocate Award” from Centro de Los Derechos Del Migrante for their efforts representing migrant workers in the carnival industry.

Prior to joining Lichten & Liss-Riordan, Matt gained extensive knowledge of civil litigation by serving as a law clerk to the Superior Courts of Massachusetts and Maine.

Representative Cases and Decisions

Gregory v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Suff. Cty. C.A. No. 19-2728 (Mass. Super. Ct.) (co-lead counsel in lawsuit successfully challenging discriminatory use of juvenile court records to disqualify daycare workers from employment)

Carrow v. FedEx Ground Package Sys., Inc., 2019 WL 7184548 (D.N.J. Dec. 26, 2019) (decision granting class certification to New Jersey FedEx drivers asserting claims that they were misclassified as independent contractors)

Camp v. Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., 2019 WL 1472586, at *4 (D.N.H. Apr. 3, 2019) (decision dismissing defendant’s counterclaims and permitting conditional certification of FLSA collective action)

Johnson v. VCG-IS, LLC, No. 30-2015-00802813, slip op. (Cal. Super. Ct. Sept. 5, 2018) (first decision under California’s “ABC” employment test to hold that exotic dancers are employees as a matter of law)

Vargas v. Spirit Delivery & Distribution Servs., Inc., 245 F.Supp.3d 268 (D. Mass. 2017) (decision denying defendant’s motion for summary judgment and granting class certification)

Saunders v. Getchell Agency, 2015 WL 1292594 (D. Me. Mar. 23, 2015) (decision granting class certification to group of caretakers asserting state law overtime claims)

Garcia v. E.J. Amusements, 98 F. Supp. 3d 277 (D. Mass. 2015) (decision granting class certification to group of migrant carnival workers)

Pace v. City of Lynn, Essex Cty. No. 11-1360 (Mass. Super. Ct.) (trial that resulted in $962,000 verdict for city employee under Massachusetts whistleblower statute)

In the News

Education

Northeastern University School of Law, J.D., 2011
Bowdoin College, B.A., 2006

Bar and Court Admissions

Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, 2011

Admitted to practice before the U.S. District of Massachusetts, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Thomas Fowler represents employees in wage and hour class action litigation, discrimination claims, whistleblower claims, and labor disputes. He has represented employees from a wide variety of backgrounds, including delivery drivers, cable and satellite installers, municipal employees, and firefighters.

Thomas has practiced employment and labor law since graduating from law school. Passionate about justice in the workplace, he began his commitment to workers’ rights during his time at Denison University as a volunteer union organizer for the SEIU International in a campaign to help the college’s dining hall workers form a union. Thomas continued to dedicate himself to the cause of workers’ rights in law school, where he focused on employment and labor. Thomas was an active member of Boston University’s Housing, Employment, Family, and Disability Law Clinic, representing workers in discrimination and Family Medical Leave Act claims.

Prior to joining the firm, Thomas worked in the Employment Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services as a Boston University Public Interest Fellow. At Greater Boston Legal Services, Thomas worked on unemployment insurance cases, as well as wage and hour cases on behalf of those who could not afford legal representation. His work ranged from representing individual clients to focusing on systemic issues through legislative advocacy and class actions. During his time at Greater Boston Legal Services, Thomas also volunteered as an organizer for the UAW in a campaign to organize adjunct professors.

Education

Boston University Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 2013
Denison University, B.A., magna cum laude, 2010

Bar and Court Admissions

Member, State Bar of New York, 2014
Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, 2013

Admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits.