November 19, 2021 — Lawdragon has named six members of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department to its 2021 list of the Top 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers.
Among the honorees are Joseph Tilson, A. Martin Wickliff, Jr., Anna Wermuth, Jeremy Glenn, Susan Eisenberg, and Michael Schmidt.
Both Tilson (Chicago) and Wickliff (Houston) were named to the list for the 11th year in a row; Wermuth (Chicago) has made the list five years in a row; Glenn (Chicago) and Eisenberg (Miami) have both been named to the list in each of the past two years; and Schmidt (New York) is new to the list this year.
In addition, both Tilson and Wickliff were named to the Lawdragon Hall of Fame, recognizing attorneys who have made remarkable career-long contributions as leaders, litigators, dealmakers, power brokers, judges, and innovators.
Joseph Tilson is co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, Tilson’s practice entails representing employers in large scale employment litigation and labor arbitrations. In the past 36 years, Tilson has tried more than 150 jury and non-jury cases before the full range of courts, administrative agencies, and labor arbitrators. He is nationally known for his success in handling large wage and hour class action cases, but he also has vast experience in collective bargaining involving large and complex bargaining units. Tilson is the past-chair of the American Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Section and is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL). He has also been recognized as one of the nation’s top labor and employment lawyers, including being named the Chicago Employment Law “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in five of the past 11 years, and has consistently achieved a Band 1 ranking from Chambers USA and is recognized by Chambers Global.
A. Martin Wickliff, Jr. is a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department in the Houston office. He is a certified arbitrator and mediator through the American Arbitration Association. His representation of management has included advice and counsel, trials, appeals, and administrative proceedings involving all types of discrimination matters (single and multiple plaintiff cases, as well as class actions), retaliation claims, layoffs and reduction in-force, noncompete and nondisclosure/nonsolicitation disputes, trade secrets, unfair competition, Sarbanes-Oxley and other whistle-blower actions, defamation, privacy claims, FMLA, and WARN, as well as wage and hour litigation (collective actions and multiple plaintiff lawsuits). Wickliff is a former director of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors, and is board certified in labor and employment law by the State Bar of Texas. He has been recognized as one of “The 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter-Century” by Texas Lawyer and “Top 100 in Texas” by Texas Super Lawyers and Texas Monthly. Wickliff is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL) and has consistently received a Band 1 ranking from Chambers USA.
As vice chair of the firm’s national Labor & Employment Department, Anna Wermuth has been representing management in labor and employment litigation before state and federal courts and administrative agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board for more than 20 years. She is also recognized for her work representing colleges and universities in union organizing campaigns, collective bargaining and faculty litigation and is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL). She currently serves as the ABA Labor and Employment Section’s Management vice-chair for its Law Student Trial Advocacy Program. In 2021, Wermuth was appointed employer vice-chair of the ABA L&E Section’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession Committee and was appointed to the Advisory Committee for the Study of the Rules of Practice and Internal Operating Procedures of the District and Bankruptcy Courts of the Northern District of Illinois. She was recognized in 2021 as a “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers and has been recognized three times by Crain’s Chicago Business for her legal, civic and charitable contributions — most recently named as a “Notable Women in Law” in 2020. She is currently acknowledged with a Band 2 ranking from Chambers USA.
As Chicago office managing partner, Jeremy Glenn oversees more than 50 attorneys and professional staff. With more than 24 years’ experience handling employment disputes and negotiations, Glenn has defended class action wage and hour overtime disputes, EEO class actions, and retaliatory discharge cases. He has tried dozens of labor arbitrations along with leading collective bargaining negotiations for employers and employee associations covering thousands of employees. Glenn is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL) and has served as co-chair of the ABA Labor and Employment Section’s federal labor standards committee, which is devoted to federal wage and hour laws. He received the 2018 and 2020 “Client Choice Awards” from Lexology and the International Law Office (ILO) in the Illinois Employment and Benefits Law field and is recognized by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers. In addition, he was named to the 2021 and 2019 lists of “Chicago’s Notable GenX Leaders in the Law” by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Susan Eisenberg, the office managing partner of Cozen Miami office, is nationally known for proficiency in wage and hour class action cases. With over 25 years of experience representing employers in all aspects of employment matters, she has extensive jury and non-jury trial experience involving sex, race, religion, age, and disability harassment and discrimination issues. She is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Labor and Employment and is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL). Eisenberg has an active neutral practice as a certified mediator as well as an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association. A founding member of the Wage and Hour Defense Institute (WHDI), she was named a “Lawyer of the Year” for Labor & Employment Litigation by Best Lawyers in 2020. She has been also recognized as a 2019 “Influential Businesswoman” by the South Florida Business Journal. In addition, she has consistently received a Band 1 ranking from Chambers USA and is also recognized by Chambers Global.
Michael Schmidt is vice-chair of the firm’s national Labor & Employment Department and is the office managing partner of the New York office. For more than 25 years, he has assisted businesses and their management teams throughout the United States in accomplishing their goals through litigation, negotiation, and day-to-day counseling. Schmidt is a fellow in The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL). In 2021 he was recognized by The National Law Journal as an “Employment Law Trailblazer” in the use of digital and social media and as the founder and host of the award-winning podcast, “Employment Law Now.” His podcast has twice won (2020 and 2021) the JD Supra “Readers’ Choice Award for Top Podcast and Thought Leadership” for his perspectives on employer liability issues. Schmidt has been recognized by his peers as a Super Lawyer and by Benchmark Litigation as a “Labor & Employment Star for the Northeast.”
LawDragon, a Los Angeles-based network for lawyers and clients, produces the annual list of the nation’s top talent representing Corporate America in defending wage and hour, discrimination, and a host of other claims; advising on key matters from immigration to executive compensation and employee benefits; and handling union and other labor-management relations matters. The attorneys are selected based on journalistic research, submissions by firms and clients and vetting by peers.
The 2021 Top 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers list can be viewed here.
About Cozen O’Connor
Established in 1970, Cozen O’Connor has more than 825 attorneys who help clients manage risk and make better business decisions. The firm counsels clients on their most sophisticated legal matters in all areas of the law, including litigation, corporate, and regulatory law. Representing a broad array of leading global corporations and middle market companies, Cozen O’Connor services its clients’ needs through 32 offices across two continents.