Labor and employment lawyer Laura Reathaford has left Venable to join Blank Rome in Los Angeles, reuniting with two former colleagues there.

Reathaford's move, announced Monday, helps Blank Rome grow its practice related to California's Private Attorney General Act, which allows individual workers to file lawsuits on Labor Code violations when the state does not act. Reathaford had previously worked with Blank Rome partners Howard Knee and Michael Ludwig, who joined the firm in 2010 from labor and employment boutique Knee, Ross and Silverman.


Laura Reathaford.


Courtesy photo

Her clients include billion-dollar companies with tens of thousands of employees, with a focus on the grocery and manufacturing industries, she said. Reathaford's clients do not overlap with Blank Rome's existing business, said labor and employment co-chair Brooke Iley. But Reathaford said she is looking forward to working with some of Blank Rome's institutional clients.