Noah Finkel > Seyfarth Shaw LLP > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile

Seyfarth Shaw LLP
233 SOUTH WACKER DRIVE
SUITE 8000
CHICAGO, IL 60606 - 6448
ILLINOIS
United States
Noah Finkel photo

Work Department

Labor & Employment Department; Wage & Hour Litigation Practice Group; Single-Plaintiff Litigation Practice Group

Career

Noah Finkel is a partner in the Labor & Employment Department and is a Co-Chair of the Wage & Hour Litigation Practice Group in Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s Chicago office.  His principal area of concentration lies in wage-and-hour matters, in which he has represented companies more than 150 actual or putative collective and/or class action matters under the Fair Labor Standards Act and/or state wage-and-hour laws.  He also regularly advises companies on compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage-and-hour laws, including the performance of exempt status reviews and pay practice audits.

Mr. Finkel is one of three editors-in-chief of the treatise Wage & Hour Collective and Class Litigation, a more than 1000-page book devoted to the litigation of wage & hour matters.  The treatise literally is “the book” on wage & hour litigation.  Mr. Finkel has been lead counsel for Epic Systems in the district and appellate courts, and co-counsel at the United States Supreme Court, in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, which established that employers lawfully may require employees to enter into an arbitration agreement containing a waiver of the ability to participate in a class or collective action against employer. Mr. Finkel participated in drafting of public comments to the United States Department of Labor on its proposed regulatory changes to the FLSA’s white-collar exemptions on behalf of the Society for Human Resources Management.

Prior to joining Seyfarth Shaw, Mr. Finkel was law clerk to the United States District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Education

J.D., University of Michigan Law School (1994), Associate Editor, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform (1992-1993); B.A., University of Michigan, with distinction (1991), Editor-in-Chief, The Michigan Daily (1990)

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)

The ‘very efficient and effective’ team at Seyfarth Shaw LLP continues to be highly regarded for its experience in defeating class certification and for its successes in wage and hour cases. The team, headed by large-scale class actions and multi-plaintiff cases expert Laura Maechtlen in San Francisco, is able to draw on its national team to work on cases across the country, and is experienced in a variety of industries including healthcare, hospitality, energy, and retail. Camille Olson, valued by clients for her ‘incredible experience’ as a complex litigator, is based in Chicago and is a co-chair of the firm’s national complex litigation practice group. Also in Chicago is Noah Finkel, who has a particular specialism in representing clients in collective or class action matters, as well as advising and litigating on class action waivers in arbitration agreements. Sacramento-based Coby Turner is a key contact for compliance counseling. Gerald Maatman, Jr. left the firm in September 2022. Gary Friedman arrived from Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in February 2024.