Laurence A. Shapero
Principal
Larry is Chair of Riddell Williams' Labor and Employment Group. He represents and counsels employers in labor, employment and employee benefits matters.
Larry's practice includes both litigation and counseling in such matters as ADA and FMLA compliance, federal and state wage/hour law compliance, protection of trade secrets and prevention of unfair competition by former employees, workplace privacy rights, union election and representation issues, prevention of employment discrimination and workplace harassment, the appropriate classification of workers as employees or independent contractors, and other workplace legal matters. Employers call on Larry for advice and assistance in managing employee performance issues, and in developing and administering prudent human resources policies and practices. Larry is also experienced in providing employers with compliance advice and other legal advice regarding their 401(k) plans and other tax-qualified retirement plans, group health plans, executive compensation arrangements and other employee benefit plans.
Larry has served as employment and/or benefits counsel for local manufacturing companies, software design firms, regional bottling and beverage distribution companies, insurance companies, airlines, biomedical research firms, not-for-profit hospitals, healthcare providers, and other employers of all sizes. Representative clients include Microsoft Corporation, Idaho Power Company, Scripps Health, Raleigh America, Zones, Inc., Nippon Paper USA Co., Ltd., Group Health Permanente and T-Mobile USA.
Before joining Riddell Williams in 2001, Larry was an associate in the Chicago office of Katten Muchin Zavis (now known as Katten Muchin Rosenman), where he practiced exclusively in the area of employee benefits and executive compensation.
In addition to his experience as an attorney, Larry has substantial experience as a human resources manager and generalist, and also has served in a variety of line and staff management positions. At Six Flags, Inc., Larry managed safety, security, workers compensation and general litigation matters for the company's Southern California facility. Later, at United Airlines, Larry served as General Manager in Vancouver, B.C. before serving in several assignments in United's World Headquarters near Chicago, Illinois.
Education and Admissions
Larry earned his B.A. in Psychology, summa cum laude, and an M.B.A from California State University, Northridge. He received his J.D., with honors, Order of the Coif, from the DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, Illinois, where he was a Dean's Scholar and a Notes and Articles Editor for the DePaul Law Review.
Larry is admitted to practice in Oregon, Washington and Illinois.
Memberships
American Bar Association, King County Bar Association, Oregon State Bar Association, Washington State Bar Association. Larry is a Trustee of the Labor & Employment Section of the King County Bar Association.
Awards and Recognition
Larry has been recognized as a Washington Super Lawyer®. In 2004 he received a Leadership and Service Award from Seattle University in recognition for his pro bono work on behalf of the University's Access to Justice Institute. In 2007, Larry and other members of the Pro Bono Panel of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington received the District's Federal Bar Association Pro Bono Service Award for their pro bono representation of individuals in matters pending before the District Court.
Publications
Larry authored or co-authored a variety of articles that appeared in The Benefits Law Journal and in The Employee Relations Law Journal in 2002, 2003, and 2005.
Speeches, Presentations, Faculty
Larry is a frequent speaker on a variety of employment law topics, and, in recent years, has served as a faculty member for human resources seminars sponsored by The Seminar Group, The Council on Education for Management and The Lorman Group.
Larry is serving in his sixth year as a member of the Planning Committee for the King County Bar Association's Pacific Coast Labor & Employment Law Conference, the Pacific Northwest's premier continuing legal education seminar for employment lawyers. In the course of his planning committee work, Larry has co-authored or edited CLE presentation materials for the Conference in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
