Gerald Maatman, Jr. > Seyfarth Shaw LLP > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile

Gerald Maatman, Jr.

(312) 460-5965 gmaatman@seyfarth.com

Work Department

Labor & Employment; Complex Discrimination Litigation; Workplace Counseling & Solutions; Employment Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Insurance; Class Action Defense; Background Screening Compliance & Litigation; Wage & Hour Litigation; Wage & Hour Class and Collective Actions; Arbitration Strategy & Litigation.

Position

Gerald (Jerry) L. Maatman, Jr. – is a partner with the firm’s Chicago and New York City offices, and the co-chair of Seyfarth Shaw’s class action practice group. He has represented small and large employers across the country in putative class actions, ranging in size from hundreds to thousands of employees. He was named Employment MVP by Law360 in 2013, 2014, and again in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, which is indicative of being considered one of the best five employment lawyers in the United States. Given the selective nature of this award, it is exceedingly rare for one lawyer to be selected multiple times within a seven-year span. In addition, he was recognized by Who’s Who Legal as the best employment class action defense lawyer in the U.S. this past year.

Mr. Maatman represents several leading employment practices liability insurance (“EPLI”) carriers and defends their employer insureds in class actions throughout the United States. He has also developed EPLI risk management programs for these carriers to assist their employer insureds in reducing and minimizing class actions. Mr. Maatman created an interactive web-enabled tutorial for the largest EPLI carrier in the U.S., which provides Internet training for management personnel on compliance with employment laws. Business Insurance Magazine selected the training tutorial for its “Best of the Web” Award for risk management in both 2001 and 2002.

Among his various cases, Mr. Maatman successfully defended one of the largest age discrimination collective actions ever brought in Illinois, as well as the first sexual harassment class action brought by a State Attorney General in the United States. Further, he served as lead defense counsel in the largest EEOC pattern or practice action ever prosecuted by the U.S. Government. Mr. Maatman has also defended the governments of France, India, and Spain in lawsuits brought in U.S. courts over their employment of American workers.

Finally, he is the editor of Seyfarth Shaw’s Annual Workplace Class Action Report, a compendium of Rule 23 decisions he analyzed and authored each year. The Report provides a ranking of the top ten settlements each year and the findings have been recently referenced in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Bloomberg BNA, and POLITICO.

Career

Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP; Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law

Languages

English

Memberships

American Bar Association; College of Labor & Employment Law

Education

J.D., Northwestern University School of Law (1981); B.A., Washington and Lee University, magna cum laude (1978).