Since 1995, Schwartz Hannum PC has served as an invaluable ally to organizations looking to promote positive employee relations and resolve disputes. Our practice is characterized by responsiveness, confidence, creativity, and candor. Our team of seasoned professionals has established the Firm as a leading provider of thoughtful, results-oriented legal counsel.
Sara Goldsmith Schwartz
Founder & President
schwartz@shpclaw.com
Our Practice
COMPLIANCE: The Firm represents employers in a broad range of government audits and investigations arising in the arena of labor and employment law, including, for example, audits conducted by the United States Department of Labor, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, comparable state agencies in other states, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), numerous state fair employment practices agencies, the United States Occupational Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”), and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”), among others. The Firm also represents employers with respect to investigations of public accommodation issues before state and federal discrimination agencies and state architectural access boards.
COUNSELING: The Firm provides counseling with respect to labor and employment law issues, including the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws, leaves of absence, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, employee handbooks and employment policies, employment applications, employment and independent contractor agreements, affirmative action plans, disciplinary actions and termination decisions, workplace investigations, reductions in force and plant closings, and separation agreements.
EDUCATION: Schwartz Hannum PC is a strategic partner to educational institutions looking to promote a positive learning environment and resolve workplace issues. Schwartz Hannum PC’s Schools and Education Practice provides comprehensive guidance to the full spectrum of school and education clients, including many nationally renowned independent schools, colleges, and universities. The Firm’s Schools and Education Practice helps educational leaders meet their legal obligations to both employees and students under state and federal laws. Our attorneys understand the unique dynamics of the school environment – how each decision, from hiring and admissions to termination and expulsion, affects relationships with students, parents, faculty, staff, and governing boards. We translate that understanding into solutions that help schools mitigate risk and avoid potential conflicts. When disputes arise, we provide the administration with representation in litigation before state and federal government agencies, courts, and arbitration panels.
GOVERNMENT AUDITS: The Firm represents employers in a broad range of government audits and investigations arising in the arena of labor and employment law, including, for example, audits conducted by the United States Department of Labor, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, comparable state agencies in other states, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), numerous state fair employment practices agencies, the United States Occupational Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”), and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”), among others. The Firm also represents employers with respect to investigations of public accommodation issues before state and federal discrimination agencies and state architectural access boards.
LABOR RELATIONS: The Firm represents unionized and non-unionized employers in a broad range of labor relations matters, including representation campaigns and elections, collective bargaining, arbitrations, strikes, and unfair labor practice charges. The Firm’s attorneys have handled labor relations matters for employers in numerous industries, including airlines, construction, distribution, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and trucking, and have negotiated industry-wide, company-wide, and site-specific collective bargaining agreements.
LITIGATION: From complex class action litigation to individual discrimination cases, Schwartz Hannum PC’s litigators focus their insight and expertise on helping clients win cases. Our labor and employment attorneys appear regularly before state and federal courts, government agencies, and arbitration panels. Members of our Litigation Practice provide expert representation through all phases of litigation, from discovery through trial, and appeal. Throughout the process, we remain focused on the client’s strategic objectives – using litigation as a means to achieve a solution that is tailored to the client’s goal. When appropriate, we also take advantage of opportunities to settle out of court through mediation, arbitration, and other resolution strategies.
TRAINING: Schwartz Hannum PC routinely conducts seminars on the full spectrum of labor, employment, and education law topics, including employment litigation, labor relations, audits and investigations, compliance, counseling, education issues, human resources policies and procedures, and employment and non-competition agreements. We provide training tailored for all audiences, including senior executives, independent school administrators, managers, and employees not only at our offices but also at client locations and other off-site locations. We welcome the opportunity to discuss each client’s goals and to develop tailored programs that meet the client’s specific needs. Please feel free to contact any of the Firm’s attorneys, or Kathie Duffy, the Firm’s Seminar Coordinator, at 978-623-0900, or via e-mail at kduffy@shpclaw.com.
Core Values
Schwartz Hannum PC is governed by core values that shape the culture and define the character of the Firm. Core values guide our professional practice, our decision-making, and our interactions with clients and each other.
- Strategic – Strategic thinking permeates everything we do. We start with a comprehensive perspective that aligns with our clients’ goals.
- Creative – We apply uncommon thinking to common problems. We are innovative and ingenious. We love to resolve complex situations.
- Accessible – We are easy to approach and available any time.
- Thoughtful – We listen carefully, pay attention to the details, and alert our clients to potential problems before they arise.
- Trustworthy – We speak the truth, deliver on our promises, and are loyal to clients and one another. We treat clients and each other with respect.
- Focused – We keep the conversation, the strategy, and our solutions focused on those matters that are relevant.
- Collaborative – We are a team. We value the strengths, experiences, and perspectives of others. We freely share our ideas, opportunities, and insights with clients and one another.
Sara Goldsmith Schwartz
Sara Schwartz is the Founder and President of Schwartz Hannum PC. Sara is a cum laude graduate of both Yale College and Harvard Law School. She began her legal career at the law firm of Ropes & Gray in Boston, after completing a federal court clerkship with The Honorable William Young in Boston. Sara’s practice includes the representation of employers with respect to employment discrimination claims in government agencies and courts throughout the United States, as well as counseling clients and representing them with respect to traditional labor law issues. Sara is particularly experienced in representing multi-state clients with respect to state-specific issues, and has extensive experience in representing independent schools, colleges and universities, as well as businesses in the technology, financial services, private clubs, health care and staffing industries.
In the course of representing more than 200 educational institutions across the United States, Sara has become a trusted advisor to Heads of Schools, Presidents, Chairmen of the Board, Deans, Business Officers and others as independent school and higher education leaders tackle and resolve matters of school governance, student and employee disciplinary matters, risk management, sexual abuse allegations, and the myriad compliance documents such as enrollment agreements, school bylaws, student/parent handbooks and more.
Since 2006, Sara has been recognized by Chambers USA as a leading attorney in Labor and Employment Law. Chambers publishes guides world-wide on law firms and lawyers and is a highly recognized leader in its field. In 2014, Chambers and Partners commented that “Sara maintains a sterling practice, with particular strength in discrimination matters.” Clients say she is “very well informed, and very nuanced in her judgment and analysis of situations” and “marketplace commentators note that she takes no prisoners when it comes to defending her clients.” Chambers and Partners stated in 2013 that “Sara offers extensive experience in the representation of employers on a nationwide scale.” She “has the ability to really listen to you, and boil down whatever your particular issues are in a very quick and succinct way.” In recent years, Chambers’ sources described Sara as “a great strategist who comes up with practical and elegant solutions – simply an extraordinarily effective attorney.” She is “a formidable advocate” who “always does her homework,” in order to sharpen her “cutting-edge knowledge of the law.” A “‘delight to deal with,’ she is a firm favorite for clients, who appreciate her cost-effective advice.” She is “a businesswoman: diligent, thorough and always prepared,” with an “aggressive and adversarial style, much appreciated by her clients” and a “smart and tenacious lawyer. She has the drive and determination to succeed.”
In 2013, Sara was selected by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as a Top Woman of Law. Sara has also been selected for inclusion in Massachusetts Super Lawyers® as a top Labor and Employment attorney for nine years. In 2001, she was selected by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of the “Up and Coming Lawyers in Massachusetts.”
Sara has been repeatedly selected as one of the top entrepreneurs in the country by OMNIKAL (formerly Diversity Business), the nation’s primary resource portal for business connections, and the Firm has been included on numerous OMNIKAL lists including: the Top 50 Woman-Owned Businesses in Massachusetts, the Top 50 Diversity Owned Businesses in Massachusetts, the Top 100 Diversity-Owned Businesses in Massachusetts by Diversity Business and the Top 500 Women Owned Businesses in the U.S. Additionally, Sara has been honored, and the Firm has been recognized as a “Top 100 Women-Led Business” by The Commonwealth Institute.
Sara is a frequent speaker at seminars for attorneys, human resources professionals and educational leaders, as well as speaking often at the Association of Independent Schools in New England (AISNE), Connecticut Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), National Business Officers Association (NBOA), New England Club Managers Association (NECMA), North Shore Chamber of Commerce, The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), and Virginia Association of Independent Schools (VAIS).
Sara is a member of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is admitted to the United States District Courts for the District of Connecticut and the District of Massachusetts, and the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Sara is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Employment Law Council, the Boston Bar Association, the Association of Independent Schools in New England (AISNE), the Massachusetts Bar Association, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the National Business Officers Association (NBOA), and Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). Sara serves as the Co-Chair of the Harvard Law School Women’s Alliance, Boston Chapter.
