Cozen & O'Connor issued the following announcement on Aug. 20.
Cozen O'Connor continues to expand its national Labor and Employment Department and its Pittsburgh office with four additional attorneys from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. Mariah L. Passarelli, Bethany C. Salvatore, Abigail M. Green, and Tiffany A. Jenca have joined the firm's highly regarded Labor & Employment Department and will focus on legal issues ranging from employment contracts to agency investigations.
Passarelli and Salvatore join the firm as members, while Green and Jenca have joined as associates. Their move to Cozen O’Connor marks yet another growth spurt for the Pittsburgh office, as it now boasts more than 27 attorneys since its opening in May of 2017, as well as a continued focus on hiring talented women throughout the firm.
“These additions continue our momentum and show our strong commitment to growing as a firm and office, but also mark a new and exciting chapter for Cozen O’Connor in Pittsburgh,” said Jeremy Garvey, Cozen O’Connor’s Pittsburgh office managing partner. “We have been focused on continuously building our Pittsburgh office over the past year with outstanding talents like those of Mariah, Bethany, Abigail, and Tiffany.”
Cozen O'Connor's Labor & Employment Practice has more than doubled in size to more than 80 attorneys since 2015, with Labor & Employment attorneys in every region of the country.
Passarelli, a former deputy attorney general at the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, handles matters in all phases of litigation, from administrative agencies to state and federal courts. Passarelli also counsels clients on litigation avoidance, anti-harassment/discrimination, and workplace violence. She has extensive trial experience, having defended universities, hospitals, and oil and gas companies in state-wide class and collective actions. Passarelli also has substantial experience in higher education training, counseling, and defending institutions in Title IX matters and conducting related investigations.
Salvatore focuses her practice on representing employers in all aspects of labor and employment law. She successfully defends companies in arbitrations and state and federal single-plaintiff and class and collective actions on matters ranging from wage and hour to restrictive covenant enforcement. Salvatore has worked extensively with companies on issues of hiring and retention of executive talent. She also advises companies on anti-harassment/discrimination, leave-of-absence, and litigation-avoidance best practices.
Green assists companies with the newly developing area of website accessibility compliance and she also defends employers in matters such as state and federal single-plaintiff actions involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour law, and restrictive covenant issues. Green also has experience defending employers in federal and state class actions.
Jenca counsels employers to avoid litigation and defends employers in all aspects of litigation when disputes arise. She counsels employers in developing key policies and procedures, provides workplace training, defends companies in single-plaintiff litigation as well as class and collective actions, and has prevailed in complex appellate matters. Jenca also has substantial experience in restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation.
“We are extraordinarily excited to reunite with this dynamic group of exceptionally talented women, who bring extensive labor and employment experience to the firm,” said Thomas Giotto, co-chair of the Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department. “The growth of this practice, and the Pittsburgh office, are a response to the needs of our clients in this important market.”
Committed to employing a diverse complement of attorneys and staff, Cozen O’Connor has hired a significant number of women in the past few months. Passarelli, Salvatore, Green, and Jenca are joining the likes of Alexandra Campau, the former White House special assistant to the president for health policy; Susan Gruenberg, a nationally recognized franchise attorney; Marnie Kudon, a New York real estate attorney; and Mary Cooley and Julia Ciarlo Hammond, who joined the firm's government strategies practice in New York and Richmond, respectively.
“We are delighted to see so many talented female attorneys choose Cozen O’Connor,” said Cozen O’Connor’s Chief Diversity Officer Lynnette Espy-Williams. “They broaden the firm’s knowledge base and bring new outlooks to their respective practice groups.”
Original source can be found here.