Related Links

Speakers:

• Stuart J. Ishimaru, Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, D.C.
• Alyse Bass, Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Washington, D.C.
• Mark E. Zelek, Managing Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Miami
• Mark R. Cheskin, Chair, Florida Labor & Employment Practice Group, Hogan & Hartson, Miami
  When: Monday, November 5, 2007 (12:20-2:30)
  Cost: FREE. Complimentary lunch will be provided.
  Where: University of Miami Law School---Student Lounge. Parking is available on metered spots in the surrounding streets or in the UM parking garage (Ponce Garage) with shuttle bus service to the Law School (take Fountain or Fountain Express buses).

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Event - 1 1/2 Credits

RSVP Required. For more information, contact Mitchell S. Kominsky, Editor-in-Chief, University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review, Tel. (954) 270-3885 or at Mkomins@gmail.com

Description of Event

The University of Miami is bringing together a panel of attorneys to discuss current issues in Employment Discrimination law. The panel will be comprised of Commissioner Stuart Ishimaru of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission-keynote speaker), Mark Zelek (Managing Partner of Morgan Lewis- Miami), Alyse Bass (DOJ- Senior Litigation Attorney, Civil Rights Dvision) and Mark Cheskin (Chair, Florida Labor & Employment practice group, Hogan & Hartson). Each speaker will be discussing their position in Employment field and how they came to that role. Also, the panel will primarily be focused on addressing various issues in Employment Discrimination law (for ex., recent Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter) in a balanced discussion between the government and private sector. Each speaker will have around 20 minutes to talk and Commissioner Ishimaru will be the Key Note Speaker. After the panel, there would be a lunch for the speakers to discuss the issues with students and attorneys in a less formal discussion. The date is Nov. 5 (2007).

Speaker Biographies

Stuart J. Ishimaru- Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Stuart J. Ishimaru was sworn in on November 17, 2003, as a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to serve the remainder of a term expiring July 1, 2007. Mr. Ishimaru was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 14 and confirmed by the full U.S. Senate on October 31, 2003.

As a member of the Commission, he participates with the other Commissioners on all matters which come before it, including the development and approval of enforcement policies, authorization of litigation, issuance of Commissioner's charges of discrimination, and performance of such other functions as may be authorized by law, regulation, or order.

Mr. Ishimaru previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice between 1999 and 2001, where he served as a principal advisor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, advising on management, policy, and political issues involving the Civil Rights Division. He supervised more than 100 attorneys in high-profile litigation, including employment discrimination cases, fair housing and fair lending cases, criminal police misconduct, hate crime and slavery prosecutions, and enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Prior to this, as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division for five years, Mr. Ishimaru provided advice on a broad range of issues, including legislative affairs, politics and strategies. He maintained liaison between the office and Members of Congress, and supervised fair housing and fair lending, equal employment opportunity, education, and Voting Rights Act litigation. He also testified before Congressional Committees on fair housing issues.

In 1993, Mr. Ishimaru was appointed by President Clinton to be the Acting Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and from 1984-1993 served on the professional staffs of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights and two House Armed Services Subcommittees of the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Ishimaru, a native of San Jose, Calif., received his A.B. in Political Science and in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and his law degree from the George Washington University. He is married to Agnieszka Fryszman, an attorney, and they have two sons, Matthew and Benjamin.

Mark Cheskin - Hogan and Hartson- Head of Labor and Employment practice in Florida

Mark Cheskin has a national employment law practice, handling matters throughout Florida and across the country. He is also head of the firm's labor and employment practice in Florida. His active trial practice focuses on complex employment and commercial litigation.

In his 20-year legal career, Mark has successfully taken dozens of significant cases to jury verdict or final judgment as lead lawyer in a wide range of complex employment and commercial matters. He has worked on more than 40 class action cases in his career, including a variety of discrimination and wage and hour claims.

Mark handles a broad range of cases, from prosecuting trade secrets claims to defending class actions involving tens of thousands of plaintiffs. He has experience representing clients from a broad range of industries, including financial, retail, professional, agriculture, energy, travel, higher education, and technology.

Mark is one of the few defense lawyers in the country to defend class action cases through jury verdict. Within one six-month period, Mark obtained successful jury verdicts in two different, month-long class action jury trials, where tens of thousands of plaintiffs sought more than $70 million in back wages. The National Law Journal called the victories one of the "Top Ten Defense Wins" for that year.

While Mark takes a bottom-line approach to resolving clients' problems, he is capable of going to trial when the need arises. His ability as a jury trial lawyer recently was highlighted when he obtained a $2.5 million jury verdict on behalf of a pro bono client in a discrimination and retaliation case against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A frequent lecturer and author, Mark has written papers and conducted numerous seminars and training programs for clients, trade groups, and publications on a variety of employment law and human resources topics, including how to hire, eliminating workplace bias, protecting companies' trade secrets, understanding non-compete agreements, giving honest employee evaluations, preventive documentation ( i.e., job applications and consent forms, employee handbooks, personnel files), reducing liability associated with company-sponsored holiday parties, how to calculate overtime pay, managing leaves of absences, and employee discharge and documentation.

Mark has been named in the Best Lawyers of America, and by the South Florida Legal Guide, Florida Super Lawyers, and Florida Trend magazines as one of the top lawyers in Florida .

For more than 10 years, Mark served as the coach of the Coral Gables High School Mock Trial Team, leading them to local and state championships.

Mark E. Zelek - Morgan, Lewis Bockius- Managing Partner, Miami Office

Mark E. Zelek is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice. He currently serves as the Miami office's managing partner. Mr. Zelek's practice focuses on counseling and representing employers in the full spectrum of employment and employee benefits law matters, including employment arbitration and litigation. Mr. Zelek also has experience with international labor law matters, and he advises domestic clients on Latin American labor law and Latin American clients on U.S. labor law.

In 2006 and 2007, Mr. Zelek was named one of the leading U.S. lawyers for employment law by Chambers USA, based on the views of clients, peers, and other industry professionals. Clients reported that Mr. Zelek "rises to the occasion" and "always sensibly weighs up the pros and cons of a matter before acting." Chambers also has called Mr. Zelek "well steeped in labor law" and has reported that Mr. Zelek regularly uses his fluency in Spanish to the benefit of clients, advising Latin American clients on U.S. labor law and vice versa.

Mr. Zelek, who is fluent in Spanish, has lectured widely on a broad range of labor and employee benefits law issues, including at a series of arbitration conferences throughout Central America sponsored by the American Bar Association (ABA).

Alyse Bass

Ms. Bass is a senior litigation attorney at the Department of Justice's Civil Right's Division in Washington D.C. Ms. Bass has extensive experience with the Americans with Disabilities Act and has litigated several groundbreaking cases for the Department of Justice. Ms. Bass performed her undergraduate work at Brandeis University and received her law degree from Duke University.