GC & HR: Key Issues in Employment Law & Labor Relations

An experienced litigator, Colin handles a range of employment and complex commercial disputes for clients across the United States. He regularly represents clients in the telecommunications, staffing, construction, insurance, cable/satellite television and health care industries in a wide array of litigation matters, including class action defense, wage and hour litigation, insurance disputes, health care litigation and construction law. Additionally, Colin counsels clients on compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws.

Michael R. Booden is the Senior Legal Counsel of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago where he is accountable for providing advice and counsel to all levels of management with regard to labor & employment matters, managing litigation, intellectual property matters, risk management, compliance and negotiating complex commercial transactions.

Mr. Booden previously served as Assistant General Counsel to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois where was responsible for negotiating, reviewing and drafting complex information technology agreements, providing advice and counsel with regard to conducting investigations, health care law and was responsible for managing a multi-million dollar portfolio of defense litigation matters. Mr. Booden has served as either first or second chair in over thirty trials in state and federal courts and before administrative judges. He has also authored several appellate briefs and represented clients before state and federal appellate tribunals.

Upon graduating from The John Marshall Law School, Mr. Booden served as Judicial Law Clerk to John J. Stamos, who formerly served on the Illinois Appellate Court and Illinois Supreme Court. Mr. Booden previously served as the President of the Chicago Chapter of the ACC and Chair of the ACC Litigation Committee. For the past 14 years, he has organized the Chicago Chapter’s most well-attended CLE program: “Best Practices of General Counsel.”

Sam Facey, is the Assistant General Counsel, Employment Counsel, Chief Privacy Officer and Investigative Counsel for Rockwell Automation. He manages the global privacy program, provides counsel on employment laws, and leads internal investigations.

Sam has over 15 years of experience in the areas of labor and employment law from working as an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board, an employment lawyer at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, and in corporate HR and legal positions.

Sam has been a critical partner in Rockwell Automation’s Insider Risk Program by proactively ensuring that privacy has been built into the processes, technology, and procedures used to identify, investigate, and mitigate insider threats. He also supports the Insider Risk Program with navigating employment laws and investigations globally.

Sam has a Certificate in Insider Threat Program Management from Carnegie Mellon University, CERT Insider Threat Center, and is a Certified Information Privacy Manager, Certified Information Privacy Professional – United States, and Certified Privacy Professional - Europe from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Sam holds a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, and a Juris Doctor Degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Kent College of Law.

Naomi Katz has 20 years of experience representing private and public sector employers in labor and employment matters. She is currently the Associate General Counsel – Employment Compliance for Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM), with primary responsibility for managing the company’s state and local employment law compliance initiatives and implementing best practices for employment compliance for BSAM’s 50,000 employees in various business units across the country, with particular emphasis on California. Ms. Katz’s responsibilities include ensuring wage and hour and leave of absence compliance, overseeing the company’s drug and alcohol testing policies, and implementing state-specific policies. She is also responsible for managing BSAM’s individual and class action employment litigation in California.

Prior to taking on her current role in April 2013, Ms. Katz was the Associate General Counsel – Labor and Employment for Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC, a subsidiary of BSAM, from 2009-2013. In that position, she provided employment law advice and counseling and managed employment claims and litigation for the company’s retail organization.

Before joining Bridgestone, Ms. Katz was an associate and then a partner at Holland & Knight in Chicago where she had a national practice defending a wide range of employers in all types of employment litigation and counseling and training employers on non-litigation matters.

Ms. Katz is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Michigan Law School.

Leilani Harbeck is Senior Counsel with ConAgra Foods, a Fortune 200 consumer packaged goods company. Since joining ConAgra Foods in 2014, Leilani has provided day-to-day advice to the company and its HR and business professionals on a range of global labor and employment issues impacting the company and its more than 20,000 employees. She also manages a portion of the company’s employment and labor related litigation portfolio, which includes labor grievances, arbitrations, and administrative charges.

Prior to joining ConAgra Foods, Leilani was a partner in the employment, labor, and benefits group of a regional law firm based in Omaha, Nebraska. In private practice, Leilani provided advice and counsel to clients on a wide range of employment and labor issues and represented employers involved in litigation in state and federal courts or before administrative agencies. She also advised clients on workplace safety issues and responding to OSHA inspections and citations.

Educating others on employment and labor issues is one of Leilani’s passions. For several years she taught Employment Discrimination as an adjunct faculty member at Creighton University’s School of Law. She enjoys conducting training on complex employment and labor matters and appreciates the benefits of these proactive steps.

Leilani graduated with honors and high distinction from the University of Nebraska and earned her law degree, magna cum laude, from Creighton University School of Law.