Julie Trester

Julie L. Trester represents management on a wide array of labor and employment issues. She regularly counsels employers about compliance with applicable laws, including local, state, and federal fair employment laws, the FLSA and state equivalents, the NLRA, the WARN Act and its state counterparts, and compliance with Executive Order 11246.

She advises employers with respect to developing successful and legally compliant diversity initiatives. She represents employers in collective bargaining, labor arbitrations, and unfair labor practice proceedings. She also regularly litigates the full panoply of labor and employment issues before federal and state agencies and courts.

She has handled numerous appellate matters and has argued before the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals for the Third and Seventh Circuits, the Illinois Supreme Court, the Iowa Supreme Court, and various districts of the Illinois Appellate Court.

Julie graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law, receiving the Rickert Award for Public Service as the result of her pro bono contributions in law school. She is co-chair of the Cozen O’Connor Women’s Initiative and a member of the firm’s Diversity Committee.

She served on the inaugural board of directors for the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms and currently sits on the board of directors for the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, an organization dedicated to the care and early education of infants and toddlers.

She and has also been a part of two separate Host Committees for the Chicago Foundation for Women’s Annual Luncheon. Julie previously taught as an adjunct professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and is a frequent writer and speaker on labor and employment law issues.

EXPERIENCE :

• Persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to reverse an unfair labor practice finding based upon a healthcare client’s discharge of a union representative as part of a reduction-in-force
• Obtained numerous summary judgments on behalf of employers in complicated labor and employment cases
• Successfully handled labor and employment cases through trial, post-trial proceedings, and appeal

EDUCATION :

• University of Illinois College of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 1989
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B.A., cum laude, 1986

BAR ADMISSIONS : Illinois; Arizona

COURT ADMISSIONS :

• U.S. District Court — Arizona
• U.S. District Court — Central District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida
• U.S. District Court — New Jersey
• U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania

AFFILIATIONS :

• American Bar Association
• Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms (Board Member, 2008-2009; Programming Committee Member, 2008-present)
• IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law (Adjunct Professor, 1996-2000)