Labor & Employment Disputes: How to Effectively Mitigate Litigation Risks

Claudine Jackson, Managing Partner of Phelps Dunbar LLP’s Fort Worth office and L&E Practice Coordinator for her firm’s Texas offices, has been practicing law as a trial lawyer and advisor for over 25 years. She handled her first sexual harassment claim as a first-year associate and became Board Certified? in Labor and Employment law within 10 years of practice. Although currently Claudine represents employer-clients across a variety of industries, she practiced for several years handling cases on both sides of the docket for employees and employers and served as in-house employment counsel at a leading international aviation company. These experiences provided Claudine the uncommon ability to analyze and evaluate matters and complaints from the perspective of both the employee and management and to understand and translate complex labor issues to her clients.

In addition to successfully litigating federal and state claims involving discrimination, harassment and retaliation, wage and hour, wrongful discharge, breach of contract, non-compete and non-solicitation provisions, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of fiduciary duty, Claudine regularly counsels management and HR professionals on a wide range of employment-related matters. Throughout her career, Claudine has generously shared her knowledge and experience to mentor and inspire younger attorneys both inside and outside of her firm and has served on several non-profit boards and bar associations.

Elizabeth Barton is a Managing Deputy General Counsel for the Board of Education of the City of Chicago with responsibility for overseeing three legal practice area groups in the Board’s law department: Litigation (state, federal, and administrative agencies), Transactions/Contracts, and Investigations. Reporting directly to the General Counsel, Elizabeth advises the Board, the Chief Executive Officer, and district senior leadership on organizational and risk management strategies, their implementation, and legal strategy. Prior to her current role, for 4 years, Elizabeth managed a team of lawyers who represents the Board in federal litigation, defending claims involving employment discrimination, due process, civil rights, Title IX, and special education. In that role, Elizabeth acted as first chair in higher-profile cases and obtained defense verdicts in three federal trials. Prior to joining the Board, Elizabeth spent 11 years in private practice representing a variety of local government entities across Illinois such as police departments, school districts, and park districts. Elizabeth is on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

Shauna Fulbright-Paxton is the Senior Counsel at Abbott.

Looking back on her career, it was her time at Mayer Brown that laid the groundwork for alumna Shauna Fulbright-Paxton’s interest in labor and employment law.

“I was doing a lot of investigations work. This naturally seemed to lead to an interest in labor and employment, because much of the work focused on people’s jobs and their roles and responsibilities,” she explains. “I have always enjoyed the problem-solving aspect of being a lawyer and as an in-house labor and employment lawyer, I get vast exposure to different parts of the business.”

After joining Abbott in 2018, Shauna was promoted to senior counsel at the end of 2020. “It’s been a natural transition with regards to the work I’m doing, but I am now looking to expand the ways in which I can help the organization further,” she explains. “The longer I’m here, the more I learn about the business and the more I develop in my role.”

Abbott, a global health care company, has been working relentlessly to develop important tests to help battle COVID-19, and Shauna has aided these efforts by supporting the company from a legal perspective. “It’s been great working for a company that I know is doing all it possibly can to help others throughout this pandemic,” she says.

Laura Schiesl Vega is currently Assistant General Counsel, Senior Director and Head of Legal Affairs for MicroVention, Inc., a world leading rapidly growing medical device company and pioneer of the development of neuroendovascular technologies. Her key responsibilities include leading the Legal Affairs department, M&A, commercial contracting, employment and product liability litigation, strategic initiatives, data protection and privacy, and global corporate governance. Laura has served as a founder and leader in important initiatives throughout her career.

In 2018, Laura founded Insight Enterprise, Inc.’s first teammate resource group, Women With Insight, and served as its Executive Sponsor growing the resource group to almost 1000 members. Laura is continuing her efforts in professional development, recruitment, advancement, and retention at MicroVention, Inc., and is Program Director for the Women in Business Affinity Group and is a key facilitator for cross-functional leadership training across the global MicroVention organization. Laura also serves as a Board Member of Take the Lead, whose mission is to propel all women to take their fair and equal share of leadership positions, and was Conference Chair of the Annual Conference at UCLA. Laura is also on the Advisory Board for Women, Influence & Power in the Law.

Laura was elected to serve on the Loyola Law School Alumni Association Board of Governors for the 2023- 2025 term, is a mentor in the Loyola Law School mentor program and volunteers her time working on cases for the Loyola Project for the Innocent. Laura is an active member of the Southern California chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel serving on both the Pro Bono Committee and Diversity Committee and as a mentor in the Diversity Internship Program. Laura is continuing the path laid by her father, a social justice advocate, and is co- authoring with her father the book, Establishing Racial Equality: The NAACP and Civil Rights Reform in California, 1940-1970.

Laura is a graduate of Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, cum laude, order of the coif, where she served on the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review and was awarded Outstanding Student of the Year at graduation. Laura has a bachelor’s degree in Honors History and Law from the University of California at San Diego. Prior to joining MicroVention, Inc., Laura spent 10 years managing the Legal Contracts Team for Insight Enterprises, Inc., was a federal law clerk at the United States District Court for the Central District of California, and a litigation senior associate at the global law firms of Jones Day and Greenberg Traurig.