Employment law firm Outten & Golden LLP announced today the promotion of Melissa E. Pierre-Louis, Sally J. Abrahamson, Melissa Lardo Stewart, and Gregory S. Chiarello to partnership effective January 1, 2018.
Melissa E. Pierre-Louis is Co-Chair of the firm’s Family Responsibilities and Disability Discrimination Practice Group, representing employees in litigation and negotiation in all areas of employment law. She is based in the New York office.
Before joining Outten & Golden in 2008, Ms. Pierre-Louis worked as a public interest fellow at Beldock, Levine & Hoffman LLP, where she worked primarily on labor and employment matters.
Ms. Pierre-Louis is a 2008 graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey and in the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Sally J. Abrahamson is co-chair of the firm’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer (LGBTQ) Workplace Rights Practice Group and a member of the firm’s Class Action Practice Group. Ms. Abrahamson represents individual employees facing discrimination based on their sexual orientation and litigates nationwide class and collective actions. She is based in the Washington, DC office.
Ms. Abrahamson represented plaintiffs in the Cote v. Walmart$7.5 million class action settlement on behalf of Walmart associates who were unable to obtain health insurance coverage from Walmart for their same-sex spouses. Ms. Abrahamson has also litigated and settled class actions on behalf of restaurant and catering workers, retail employees, and skilled service technicians and repair employees.
Before joining the firm in 2012, Ms. Abrahamson was a law clerk to the Honorable Frank Montalvo, U.S. District Judge in the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division.
Ms. Abrahamson is a 2009 graduate of American University’s Washington College of Law. She is admitted to practice in New York, Texas, and Washington, DC, and in the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Melissa Lardo Stewart is a member of the firm’s Class Action Practice Group. She has represented employees across many industries, including restaurant workers, retail workers, mortgage loan officers, service and installation technicians, home care workers, call center workers, and financial services employees. She is based in the New York office.
Before joining the firm in 2013, Ms. Stewart clerked for the Honorable James Orenstein in the Eastern District of New York and the Honorable Dickinson R. Debevoise in the District of New Jersey. Following her clerkships, she was associated with Woodley & McGillivary in Washington, DC, where she litigated wage-and-hour cases and represented labor unions in a range of labor-management relations matters.
Ms. Stewart graduated magna cum laude from Fordham Law School in 2009. She is admitted to practice in New York and in the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the District of Colorado.
Gregory S. Chiarello represents individual employees in litigation and negotiation in all areas of employment law, including discrimination, retaliation, wage-and-hour violations, unpaid bonus claims, professional contracts, and executive compensation. He is based in the New York office.
Mr. Chiarello is Co-chair of the firm’s Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Practice Group and of the Family Responsibilities & Disabilities Discrimination Practice Group. He also is a member of the firm’s Litigation Committee.
Before joining the firm in August 2014, Mr. Chiarello was an associate at Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P.C., where he litigated a variety of employment matters. Before that, Mr. Chiarello represented indigent criminal defendants on appeal as a staff attorney at the Office of the Appellate Defender, arguing more than 20 appeals in the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department.
Mr. Chiarello is a 2006 graduate of Brooklyn Law School, where he was a Carswell Merit Scholar. He is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey and in the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of New York and the District of New Jersey.
“We are delighted to welcome these four talented attorneys as partners in our growing firm,” said Wayne N. Outten, managing partner.
Outten & Golden LLP focuses on advising and representing individuals in employment, partnership, and related workplace matters both domestically and internationally. The firm counsels individuals on employment and severance agreements; handles complex compensation and benefits issues (including bonuses, commissions, and stock/ option agreements); and advises professionals (including doctors and lawyers) on contractual issues. It also represents employees with a wide variety of claims, including discrimination and harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, race, disability, national origin, religion, and age, as well as retaliation, whistleblower, and contract claims. The firm handles class actions involving a wide range of employment issues, including economic exploitation, gender- and race-based discrimination, wage-and-hour violations, violations of the WARN Act, and other systemic workers’ rights issues.
Outten & Golden has nine practice groups: Executives & Professionals, Financial Services, Sex Discrimination & Sexual Harassment, Family Responsibilities & Disabilities Discrimination, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Workplace Rights, Discrimination & Retaliation, Whistleblower Retaliation, Class & Collective Actions, and WARN Act.
Outten & Golden has offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
For media inquiries, contact Managing Partner Wayne N. Outten at (212) 245-1000.