Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that Sarah E. Flotte has joined the firm’s Chicago office as a partner in the Labor & Employment practice. Sarah is the seventh addition to the group since July 2019, the most recent being Michael O’Brien and Gary Gansle in Anchorage and Palo Alto, respectively. Sarah joins Perkins Coie from Michael Best, where she served as co-chair of the Higher Education industry group.
“Sarah’s standout counsel and litigation work are a welcome addition to the Labor & Employment practice, particularly in Illinois, which has an increasingly complex and unique employment laws structure,” said Ann Marie Painter, chair of Perkins Coie’s Labor & Employment practice. “Sarah’s hiring helps us ensure that we’re continuing to meet our clients’ needs as the labor and employment landscape continues to evolve.”
Sarah’s practice focuses on providing strategic, management-side advice and training, as well as first-chair employment litigation counsel, for a diverse range of pharmaceutical, manufacturing, government, financial, and higher education clients. She acts as outside general counsel for her clients, providing consultation on a wide range of employment issues, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, discipline, reductions in force, accommodations, and medical leave. Her litigation experience includes defense and representation of public and private companies in connection with employment claims filed in federal and state court and administrative agencies.
“Sarah has built an impressive track record in providing first-rate legal counsel to clients as we continue to bolster the depth of our labor and employment bench in a priority market,” said Richard Sevcik, managing partner of Perkins Coie’s Chicago office. “We’re excited to have an attorney of Sarah’s caliber come aboard and join our team as we continue to invest in our growth in Chicago and across the region.”
Sarah earned her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and a B.A. from the University of Michigan. She was recently named by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of Chicago’s Notable Women Lawyers (2018), as an “Illinois Rising Star” in Employment and Labor (2012-2018) by Super Lawyers, and in 2019 to the Chicago Lawyer and Chicago Daily Law Bulletin’s 40 Under Forty list.
Perkins Coie’s Labor & Employment practice represents employers in all facets and at all stages of labor and employment relations. With a national reach and rare substantive depth and trial experience, our attorneys routinely confront some of the most challenging issues facing employers in the modern workplace, including #MeToo and other sensitive internal investigations, employee misclassification litigation, employee privacy, and the use of biometrics in the workplace.
Perkins Coie is a leading international law firm that is known for providing high value, strategic solutions and extraordinary client service on matters vital to our clients’ success. With more than 1,100 lawyers in offices across the United States and Asia, we provide a full array of corporate, commercial litigation, intellectual property and regulatory legal advice to a broad range of clients, including many of the world’s most innovative companies and industry leaders as well as public and not-for-profit organizations.
