Employment Litigation Practice Group partner Gary D. Friedman has been recognized as an “Employment Trailblazer” by The National Law Journal. In a special supplement, he was profiled among a select group of 25 attorneys nationwide honored for their achievements in labor and employment law.

Gary is a first-chair trial lawyer with more than 30 years’ experience representing employers in employment class actions, restrictive covenant disputes and internal investigations. A leading authority in the field, Gary is regularly called upon to provide testimony to legislators and government agencies on cutting-edge issues affecting employers.

The profile highlighted his testimony before The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on employers’ hiring practices relating to criminal convictions, and his appearance in 2019 before the Joint New York State Senate and Assembly Public Hearing on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. The sole representative of the business community to testify, Gary addressed employers’ concerns and questions relating to proposed workplace legislation.

“It was a very ‘hot bench,’ which included members of the Department of Labor, affinity groups, as well as the plaintiffs’ bar. But we were able to help them see the challenges that employers might face in trying to achieve compliance given some of the ambiguities in the proposed legislation,” Gary told The National Law Journal. “My testimony may have resulted in some tweaks to the law on conducting and documenting internal investigations and workplace training.”

Gary is the 26th Weil partner since late 2015 to be named a “Trailblazer” in their respective field of expertise.