HARTFORD – FordHarrison LLP, one of the country’s largest management-side labor and employment law firms, is pleased to announce that Michael Harrington and Edward (Bud) F. O’Donnell, Jr., Partners, were named to the 2021 Connecticut Super Lawyers List and Sami Asaad, Partner, was named to the 2021 Connecticut Rising Stars List.
Attorneys are selected for Super Lawyers through a statewide nomination process, peer review by practice area and independent research on candidates. This rigorous process is designed to identify lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Only five percent of attorneys in the state of Connecticut are named “Super Lawyers.”
The Rising Stars list recognizes the top up-and-coming attorneys in the state – those who are 40 years old or younger, or those who have been practicing for 10 years or less. While up to five percent of the lawyers in the state are named to Super Lawyers, no more than 2.5 percent are named to the Rising Stars list.
Michael handles a broad range of employment law matters, but concentrates his practice on providing legal guidance to public and private sector employers. Mike is experienced in handling arbitrations and mediations before the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration and arbitrators of the American Arbitrator Association. Michael has extensive experience litigating cases in state and federal courts and has argued numerous cases before the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Connecticut Appellate Court, and the Connecticut Supreme Court. He also provides employers with preventative counsel to minimize legal risk within the changing landscape of labor and employment laws.
Bud has more than 40 years of experience handling complex labor and employment law issues. Bud represents employers in both the private and public sector in all areas of employment law, including in the defense of claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, violations of FMLA and FLSA. In the private sector Bud has handled more than 100 organizing drives and decertification efforts and appears regularly in all matters before the National Labor Relations Board. His work in the public sector includes representing municipal employers and boards of education in all phases of collective bargaining, mediation, arbitration, binding interest arbitration, and discrimination lawsuits.
Sami serves as Chair of the firm’s Home Healthcare Practice Group. Sami counsels home care agencies and provides creative advice on the variety of issues agencies face, such as managing and compensating live-in aides. He practices in federal and state courts, and represents employers before administrative agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor. Sami also provides guidance to clients on various issues, including wage and hour compliance and sensitive personnel decisions.
About Super Lawyers
Super Lawyers Magazine features the list and profiles of selected attorneys and is distributed to attorneys in the state or region and the ABA-accredited law school libraries. Super Lawyers is also published as a special section in leading city and regional magazines across the country. In the United States, Super Lawyers Magazine is published in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., reaching more than 13 million readers.