Employment Law
Develop your career to maximize your opportunity for success. The Philadelphia SHRM Chapter is happy to announce that the HR Career Development series is back. Philadelphia SHRM is sponsoring a free HR Career Development Series designed to provide valuable career information for current or aspiring HR professionals. Whether you are pursuing entry into the profession, are in transition or are looking to solidify your career objectives, this series will help you establish a definitive plan for entry and progression in the field relative to your interests and goals.
The Speaker Series will consist of a set of sessions that will consist of an informative presentation and the opportunity to network with a large group of career oriented professionals.
Join us for our third session:
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Time: 5:30pm-8:30pm
Location: ARAMARK Tower – 16th floor, 1101 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19107
Session Topic: Employment Law
Join us on March 9th for our Third and Final Career Development Series event. We will have a panel of 5 HR and Employment Law professionals speaking about hot employment law topics. They will discuss the new FLSA and ACA regulations, employment law best practices, share their personal stories and answer any questions you might have regarding employment law. There will be also an opportunity to network with your HR peers and refreshments will be provided.
Speakers:
Heather Herrington, Esq.
Heather Herrington is the Assistant Litigation Department Chair at Jacobs Law Group. Her primary areas of practice are complex commercial litigation, complex civil litigation and labor and employment matters. Ms. Herrington’s experience ranges from assisting family run businesses to large corporations in complex litigation matters, as well as navigating all aspects of employment issues. Ms. Herrington also has experience assisting executives and high level employees in the negotiation of restrictive covenants and non-compete agreements.
Ms. Herrington frequently presents on litigation and employment law topics, and is also the Vice President, Legal for the board of the Philadelphia Society of Human Resources Management.
Heather was recognized as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Star by from 2010 through 2014, and as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in 2015.
Joseph Welsh
Mr. Welsh is an attorney and serves as general counsel and President of the Center for Healthcare Information Research and Policy where he focuses on global and national health policy and health technology issues affecting population health.
For the past seven years Mr. Welsh has served as the CEO of the Collegiate Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development that includes Drexel University and five regional community colleges.
Julie Kinkopf
Julie Kinkopf, a former General Counsel and firm attorney who has experience representing companies in employment and general litigation matters, defends public and private employers in all areas of employment law and advises managers and business owners.
Julie comes to Weber Gallagher from her own firm, Kinkopf Law LLC in Bala Cynwyd, PA, where she represented clients in employment law including hiring, discipline, termination, leave management, wage and hour disputes, discrimination and retaliation issues, reductions in force and enforcement of non-competition agreements. She also drafted and reviewed employee handbooks, personnel forms, employment contracts and severance agreements. She has represented clients in government audits and investigations. Her litigation experience includes a 50-day jury trial concerning an employment matter.
Before starting her own firm in 2013 and spending three years at another Bala Cynwyd employment firm, Julie was General Counsel to a large medical company with 21 locations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Illinois. Her position included overseeing the Human Resources Department, litigation work, negotiating contracts and drafting business agreements.
A frequent lecturer and author, her articles have appeared in the Legal Intelligencer and HR Insights magazine. She has given presentations before numerous organizations including the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Pennsylvania State Conference, Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Employment Law Institute, the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, the Tri-State Human Resources Association, the Greater Valley Forge Human Resources Association, the Delaware County Human Resources Association and the National Association of CPA Practitioners.
Richard Diaz
Richard currently serves as Senior Counsel – Labor, Employment, and Employee Benefits at ETP. In his current role, Richard supports the Human Resources Departments for several members of the ETP partnership (including Sunoco and Sunoco Logistics) by, among other things, providing daily advice and counsel on labor and employee issues; drafting policies; conducting investigations and mediations; overseeing federal and/or state audits; managing litigation and arbitrations; conducting training; drafting position statements; negotiating settlements; supporting labor negotiations; ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements administered by the Department of Labor and Department of Transportation; and managing all other legal issues for Human Resources.
Prior to joining ETP, Richard worked as an Associate in the Labor and Employment group at Blank Rome LLP and as an associate at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., a leading National boutique Labor and Employment firm.
Richard received his BBA from The George Washington University, and his JD from Temple University.
Prior to law school, Richard served as an officer in the United States Navy.
Richard currently serves as a Councilor on the Narberth Borough Council. Richard previously served as a member of the Narberth Community Library Board of Trustees and as a Board member for the Greater Philadelphia Veterans Network (GPVN).
Keith Black
Keith Black is an experienced senior human resources executive and employment law attorney. Mr. Black practiced labor and employment law for Littler Mendelson in San Jose, CA and Blank Rome in Philadelphia, PA for seven years. He then joined the legal department of Zeneca Corporation (later AstraZeneca) in the capacity of Employment Counsel, serving as the dedicated legal representative for the human resources functions of the organization’s three distinct business units. Mr. Black’s expertise encompasses all facets of labor and employment law, including affirmative-action compliance, employee benefits and executive compensation, employee pay practices, employment safety and health, equal employment opportunity and civil rights, leaves of absence and disability issues, proactive employee relations policies and practices, protecting corporate assets through non-compete and non-solicitation agreements.
Keith then spent several years with AstraZeneca as a human resources generalist, first serving as a Manager and then Director of Human Resources, and finally National Sales Employment Practices Leader. In those roles, Mr. Black was charged with overseeing all human resources functions, including compensation and benefits (total rewards), succession planning, performance evaluations, employee relations, management and employee training, and other generalist functions for approximately 6,000 field sales employees. As Director, Mr. Black managed a team of sixteen HR managers located throughout the United States.
Mr. Black moved on to serve as Vice-President of Human Resources for DecisionOne Corporation, a $200 million technology support company owned by private equity firm Cerberus. In that role, as Cerberus was seeking buyers for DecisionOne, Mr. Black was responsible for transforming the organization’s human resources function, adapting it to the challenges and constraints facing the business, and introducing cost-effective measures which significantly impacted the bottom line, while creating a work environment built on a foundation of trust, respect and communication.
Mr. Black then served as Vice-President of Human Capital Consulting for Aon Consulting, which assumed third party management of DecisionOne’s Human Resources function. Keith was later named Vice-President of Human Resources for Hersha Hospital Management in Philadelphia, a hotel management company with over 80 properties from Boston to Atlanta. In that role, Keith assumed control of a human resources function with no employees and built the department into a finalist for Philadelphia Human Resources Department of the Year in less than twelve months.
Currently, Mr. Black is Vice-President of Human Resources for Philadelphia Media Network, owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, and also serves as a faculty member in Villanova University’s Masters Program in Human Resources Development. Mr. Black also served as the President of the Springfield School District Board of School Directors and as the Commissioner of the Delaware-Chester County Men’s’ Baseball League.
Mr. Black received a B.A. in Labor and Industrial Relations from Penn State University and a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law. He lives in Springfield, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.
