Camille Olson

Camille A. Olson is a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Co-Chair of its National Complex Litigation Practice Group, and National Chairperson of its Complex Discrimination Litigation Practice Group. She serves on the firm’s National Labor and Employment Law Steering Committee and is the past National Chairperson of the Labor and Employment Practice Department.

Since 2013, Ms. Olson has served as Chairperson of the United States Chamber of Commerce’s Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) Subcommittee. For nearly 30 years, she has represented companies nationwide in all areas of litigation, with an emphasis on employment discrimination and harassment, wage and hour matters, and independent contractor status.

Ms. Olson’s trial experience includes lead defense trial counsel in “bet the company” harassment, discrimination, independent contractor, contract, commercial, and wage and hour cases. She has also served as outside counsel and independent counsel to Boards of Directors and Executive Team Members in connection with internal investigations and highly sensitive litigation matters.

She has litigated numerous discrimination cases through both successful summary judgment motions and favorable jury verdicts in the context of EEOC pattern and practice multi-plaintiff cases, reductions in force, individual terminations, and harassment allegations.

Ms. Olson’s track record of success in trial practice reflects her strategic and incisive approach to every phase of litigation. Through focused discovery and dispositive motion practice, she exerts pressure on the opposition at each stage, up to and including trial. In numerous instances, Ms. Olson has achieved successful resolution for clients on the eve of trial — and in a few cases during trial — through sophisticated and creative motion practice.

In the past five years, Ms. Olson has negotiated several confidential settlements in various stages of litigation on behalf of both high-profile executives and Fortune 100 companies in cases involving allegations of misconduct, systemic violations of regulatory or company policies, misappropriation of trade secrets, and severance issues as well as harassment and discrimination allegations.

Ms. Olson is the recipient of numerous accolades for her effective litigation style. In December of 2016, she was one of the recipients of the Financial Times’ first Innovation in Collaboration Award for her trial work in HP v. Oracle. In June 2016, a California jury awarded HP $3.014 Billion in its contract dispute with Oracle, the largest jury verdict in California history.

Ms. Olson also believes strongly in community involvement, and among other community and charitable positions. She is currently on the Advisory Council to the Dean of the University of Michigan Law School and Board of Directors of the Foundation of the University Club of Chicago. In 2017, Ms. Olson Co-Chaired the Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services (“CARPLS”) 2017 Golden Gavel Celebration.

Education:

• J.D., University of Michigan Law School
• B.A., University of Michigan
  • Recipient of Highest Honors Award, and Eita Krom Scholar for Published Honors Thesis, later republished as, “Effort and Reward: The Assumption that College Grades are Affected by Quantity of Study,” Social Forces, June 1985, Volume 63, Number 4, p. 945-967.