Mike represents and advises employers in employment issues and litigation, and business strategies and litigation avoidance.
-Named one of the "Top 100 Most Powerful Employment Lawyers in the Nation" by Human Resource Executive Magazine (2013-2016).
-Member, American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.
-Twice named Seattle's "Lawyer of the Year" for his work in employment-related litigation by Best Lawyers (2012, 2015).
-Tried over 75 jury trials, arbitrations and bench trials, including high-profile employment jury and non-jury trials, and charges before the EEOC, Department of Labor (DOL) OSHA, and other administrative agencies. He has also mediated hundreds of claims to resolution.
His management-side advice and litigation practice includes:
-Wrongful termination, employee investigations, discrimination, harassment, disability accommodation, and retaliation claims, False Claim Act, wage and hour class actions, Sarbanes-Oxley, Federal Railroad Safety Act, AIR21 and whistleblower retaliation claims, trade secret, non-compete agreements and employee raiding claims;
-Represents retail and hospitality industry facing Title III ADA public accommodation nation-wide class action claims;
-Advises higher education on Title IX compliance;
-Advises health care employers on False Claim Act Whistleblower claims
-Has an active ERISA and non-ERISA employee benefits litigation practice;
-Regularly advise employers in the retail, hospitality, financial, education, technology, healthcare and insurance industries on employee handbooks, policies, unfair labor practice allegations, employment contracts and non-compete agreements, and severance agreements;
-Representative clients include Nordstrom, Seattle Seahawks, Starbucks, Cray, Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Home Depot, Cigna, Safeway;
-Contributor to "Boom: The ERISA Law Blog". www.ERISAlawblog.com;
-Member, Board of Trustees for Gonzaga University.