United States: The Employer Rapport: Quick Chats for the US Workplace

Melissa Allchin is an Attorney in Baker McKenzie's Employment and Compensation Practice with more than eleven years of experience in corporate immigration law. She routinely advises multinational and domestic clients on the strategy, requirements, and procedures to secure visas and work and residence permits and satisfy employment eligibility and other immigration-related regulatory requirements for a global workforce. Melissa frequently speaks on global and US immigration and immigration compliance issues at Firm and client events geared towards global mobility, human resources, and legal professionals. She has been a Member of the Firm's Pro Bono and Diversity Committees.

Caroline Burnett is a Senior Knowledge Lawyer with the North America Employment & Compensation Practice Group. Caroline's primarily responsibility is to make knowledge easily available to lawyers within the North America Employment & Compensation Group, increasing the quality, consistency and cost-effectiveness of the advice that Baker McKenzie gives its clients
In addition to her focus on enhancing technical standards and improving efficiency, Caroline drafts drafting pragmatic and commercially-minded thought leadership for the Firm's clients. She identifies trends and developments impacting US multinationals to enable fee-earners in her practice group to better advise their clients on managing a global workforce. In 2017, Caroline launched the Employer Report blog, which provides legal updates and practical insights to help multinational employers understand, prepare for and respond to the latest domestic and cross-border labor and employment law changes.
Before joining Baker McKenzie, Caroline practiced labor and employment law for nearly a decade at major US law firms.

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Joseph Deng is a partner in the Employment & Compensation Practice Group based in Baker McKenzie's Los Angeles office with a focus in global employment. With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Deng advises major U.S. and other multinational companies on employment matters around the world with a focus on Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. He has advised on workforce expansions, international transactions, employee transfers, workforce restructuring, codes of conduct, compliance matters and employee investigations with the only international law firm to be ranked Band 1 in both Global Employment and Global Immigration.

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William (Bill) Dugan is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Employment and Compensation Practice Group, residing in Chicago and New York, chair of the US Disputes Employment Group, co-chair of the North American Employment Disputes Group, and a member of the Steering Committee for the North American Employment and Compensation Practice. Bill has been recognized as a leader in labor and employment law by Chambers, he has been repeatedly recognized for his superior litigation defense in Super Lawyers, and Legal 500 has stated that Bill is a “master in the art of defending corporations in litigation.” Bill represents management in complex litigation in federal and state courts and other tribunals throughout the United States, including trade secret and restrictive covenant matters, class and collective actions, and labor arbitrations. Bill also counsels employers on a wide range of Labor and Employment issues.

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Susan Eandi is the Chair of Baker McKenzie's North America Employment and Compensation Practice Group, head of the Global Employment and Labor Law Practice for North America, and a member of the North America Regional Management Council. She also serves on the Firm's Antiracism Legal Impact Board.
Susan speaks regularly for organizations including ACC, Tech GC, Silicon Valley AGC and World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Susan publishes extensively in various external legal publications in addition to handbooks/magazines published by the Firm.
Susan is a recognized leader in employment law by International Employment Lawyer, The Daily Journal, Legal 500 PLC and is a Chambers-ranked attorney.

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Elizabeth Ebersole is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Global Employment and Labor Law group. She focuses her practice on cross-border employment law advice across the entire spectrum of employment issues facing multinational employers. Ms. Ebersole has been published in various external legal publications in addition to handbooks/magazines published by the Firm. She was ranked one of the top employment and labor attorneys in Chicago by Super Lawyers.

Paul Evans is the New York and East Coast leader for the Employment & Compensation Practice Group, residing in Baker McKenzie's New York office. He is also a member of the Steering Committee for the Firm's North American Employment & Compensation Practice. For over 20 years, Paul's practice has included representation of employers at the US state, federal and appellate level in employment discrimination class actions, ERISA class actions, employment testing and validation matters, wage and hour class and collective actions, multiplaintiff and other complex labor and employment litigation.

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Mark Goodman is a partner in the Firm's San Francisco office who serves as co-Chair of the firm’s North America Commercial Litigation group and is part of the North America Trial Team. Mark has led complex multidistrict litigation, handled class actions and tried cases in state and federal courts across the US for both domestic and international clients. Mark regularly presents on product liability, risk mitigation and cross-border disputes. Listed in Who's Who in American Law and a Fellow of the American Bar Association, Mark has been regularly recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer, a member of the Legal 500 and as a member of the International Who's Who of Professionals.

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Christopher G. Guldberg has been practicing in the employee benefits and executive compensation areas since 1992 and is a senior member of the Firm’s benefits practice. He is a member of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee, and serves as a volunteer advising attorney for the Center for Disability and Elderly Law. Mr. Guldberg is a regular contributing author to Corporate Taxation and is a co-editor of the Firm's Compensation & Benefits Quarterly Newsletter. Mr. Guldberg has spoken on numerous benefit topics including executive compensation, retirement and health plans and health care reform, employee benefits in mergers and acquisitions and employee benefit issues for multinational corporations.

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Emily Harbison practices mainly in the area of labor and employment law. Ms. Harbison represents management in all aspects of labor and employment law, including counseling and traditional labor law. She is actively involved in various pro bono efforts.

Ben Ho advises clients on domestic and cross-border employment matters arising throughout the employment relationship. Mr. Ho also frequently counsels clients on employment law matters arising from domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and global corporate reorganizations.

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Krissy Katzenstein is a partner in the Employment & Compensation Practice Group in Baker McKenzie’s New York office. Krissy represents employers in a wide range of employment disputes, with a focus on class and collective actions involving systemic discrimination as well as federal and state agency investigations of systemic discrimination and harassment claims. Krissy was named a “Rising Star” in Employment Law by Law360 in 2019.

Michael Leggieri is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Employment and Compensation Practice Group, residing in San Francisco. Michael focuses on employment law disputes, counseling, and trial work. Michael began his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Cathy Ann Bencivengo in the US District Court for the Southern District of California.

Teresa H. Michaud advises on all aspects of dispute resolution, primarily complex business disputes, class actions, intellectual property and international arbitration. She is the co-chair of the North American Class Action Subgroup and serves as a member of the Global Steering Committee of the Firm's Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Industry Group. She is admitted to practice in California, Texas and New York, and qualified in England and Wales. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US). Teresa is also one of the founding members of our Los Angeles office that opened in 2018.

Betsy Stelle Morgan is the head of the Firm's Global Immigration and Mobility Practice. Her work has been published extensively in US and international publications. She is ranked in the Hall of Fame, Legal 500, and has been listed in Chambers Global. Ms. Morgan has been a member of the Chicago Management Committee and has held positions on several global Firm committees.

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Bradford Newman is a litigation partner resident in Baker McKenzie's Palo Alto Office and Chair of the North America Trade Secrets Practice. According to Chambers USA, Brad is a "recognized authority on trade secrets cases" who "is valued for his tenacious, intelligent and thoughtful approach to trade secrets matters." Bradford regularly serves as lead trial counsel in cases with potential eight and nine-figure liability, and has successfully litigated (both prosecuting and defending) a broad spectrum of trade secrets cases in state and federal courts throughout the country. He routinely advises and represents the world's leading technology, banking, professional service, manufacturing and commerce companies in connection with their most significant data protection and trade secret matters. Bradford is the author of Protecting Intellectual Property in the Age of Employee Mobility: Forms and Analysis, a comprehensive treatise published by ALM that offers authoritative guidance on legal risks and practical steps companies can take to protect their IP and remedy IP theft.

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Blair Robinson is a partner in the Employment & Compensation Practice Group in Baker McKenzie's New York office. He is ranked in Chambers USA as a leading employment lawyer in New York. Blair represents clients on a broad range of labor and employment matters, including class/collective actions, high stakes individual plaintiff litigation and sensitive investigations involving senior executives.

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Robin Samuel is a partner in the Employment Practice Group of Baker McKenzie's Los Angeles office. Robin helps clients manage and resolve local and cross-border employment issues, whether through counseling or litigation. He advises clients on virtually all aspects of the employment relationship, including hiring and firing, wage and hour, discrimination, harassment, contract disputes, restrictive covenants, employee raiding, and trade secret matters. Clients trust Robin to handle their most sensitive and complex employment issues.

Jeff Sturgeon is partner in the Employment & Compensation Practice group in Baker McKenzie's New York office. A skilled advisor and litigator, Jeff assists clients with their most complex employment matters.

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Billie’s practice includes all aspects of employment compliance and litigation under federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Before specializing in employment law, Billie focused on complex business litigation and class action defense. She also has extensive experience in a variety of substantive areas, including business disputes, white collar criminal defense, consumer protection, intellectual property, and products liability. Prior to entering private practice, Billie served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard C. Tallman, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, and to the Honorable Alicemarie H. Stotler, U.S. District Judge, Central District of California.