Michael Sheehan > McDermott Will & Emery LLP > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile
McDermott Will & Emery LLP Offices
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444 WEST LAKE STREET
CHICAGO, IL 60606-0029
ILLINOIS
United States
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Michael Sheehan
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Work Department
Employment
Position
Michael J. Sheehan concentrates his practice on employment litigation with a focus on prosecuting and defending unfair competition litigation involving large scale raiding, inevitable disclosure of trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duty and non-compete agreements. A nationally recognized litigator, Michael has extensive courtroom experience, having tried dozens of cases to verdict across the United States. He has acted as lead counsel and successfully defended private and public companies against age, gender, race, retaliation, sexual harassment and trade secret/raiding cases. He has also litigated numerous large scale wage and hour class actions in state and federal court.
On a daily basis, Michael provides strategic counseling to private equity and public company clients, negotiating the on-boarding and exits of CEOs and other C-Suite executives, investigating #MeToo sexual harassment, Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and other whistleblower complaints. Clients state Michael has “a pragmatic and efficient approach and a great understanding of our business and internal needs,” Chambers USA.
Michael is the global head of McDermott’s Employment Practice Group. Prior to joining McDermott, Michael was global co-chair of the employment group and chair of the US employment group for a leading international law firm.
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
The McDermott Will & Emery LLP US employment practice has a strong focus on M&A and private equity, regularly advising significant corporate clients on the employment aspects of major deals. In Chicago, Michael Sheehan leads the practice, while Rachel Cowen has a track record of work on cases concerning gender and pay equity and sensitive internal investigations, among other employment matters. Meanwhile, in New York, Linsay Ditlow has deep experience of employment matters relating to corporate restructurings workforce reductions. The Los Angeles team contains individuals including Maria Rodriguez and Yesenia Gallegos. Rodriguez focuses her practice on clients in the media, entertainment, and sports industries; while Gallegos recently led the team which advised CVS Health on its acquisition of Signify Health.
United States > Labor and employment > Labor-management relations
Michael Sheehan in Chicago and Christopher Foster in San Francisco lead McDermott Will & Emery LLP‘s team. The group is an active in the technology, transportation, airline, retail, beverages, and entertainment industries and regularly advises regular advice and representation around the National Labor Relations Act. Rachel Cowen, who works out in the firm’s Chicago office, is a key name to note, and has carved a niche in the area of gender equality and pay equity. Elsewhere, the group sees restructurings, workforce management issues and an increase in M&A activity among its most recent workload.
United States > Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
The ‘exceptional’ practice at McDermott Will & Emery LLP is equipped to handle the defense of class action, wage-and-hour, and single plaintiff actions, as well as dealing with executive compensation disputes, trade secrets litigation, and discrimination mandates. ‘Exceptional employment litigator’ Michael Sheehan steers the group from Chicago and garners client praise for his ‘incredibly practical and commercial advice’. Sheehan specializes in trade secrets litigation, and has additional experience defending companies against age, gender, and race discrimination claims, as well as wage-and-hour class actions. Also based in Chicago, Rachel Cowen majors on employment discrimination and wrongful termination cases. The department welcomed Jim Nicholas to the Boston office from Foley & Lardner LLP in April 2023.
Lawyer Rankings
- Workplace and employment counseling United States > Labor and employment
- Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) United States > Labor and employment
- Labor-management relations United States > Labor and employment
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Healthcare > Health insurers
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Healthcare > Service providers
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
Firm Rankings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Tax > Financial products
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Tax > International tax
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Insurance > Advice to insurers
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Insurance > Insurance: non-contentious
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Labor and employment > Labor-management relations
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- Real estate > Real estate finance
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Government > Government contracts
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- International trade > Trade remedies and trade policy
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Finance > Fintech