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Terese Connolly
OVERVIEW

Terese M. Connolly

Partner

Chicago

One N. Wacker Drive
Suite 4400
Chicago, IL 60606-2833

P 312-214-4811

F 312-759-5646

A trusted adviser with nearly two decades of experience, Terese (Terri) Connolly gives world-class employment counsel to in-house lawyers, CHROs, and C-suite executives, enabling them to thrive in their businesses. Terri is skilled at building compliant workforces in a budget-smart way and resolving issues that amplify their performance.

OVERVIEW

A trusted adviser with nearly two decades of experience, Terese (Terri) Connolly gives world-class employment counsel to in-house lawyers, CHROs, and C-suite executives, enabling them to thrive in their businesses. Terri is skilled at building compliant workforces in a budget-smart way and resolving issues that amplify their performance.

Terri understands her clients inside out. Her deep-seated understanding, coupled with her commitment to acting in their best interests, helps her to sidestep unnecessary costs and streamline their path to success. With Terri on their team, clients can focus on excelling in what they do best.

Terri is a standout in her field. She focuses on working in sync with her clients, in an effort to achieve a positive outcome, no matter the budget. Terri has played a crucial role in guiding both Fortune 50 and Fortune 100 companies through global employment audits that span 50 countries and multiple business lines. She has also been the go-to advisor for a major labor audit across all 50 states. Terri was also instrumental in helping a security service firm strategize and roll out non-compete and non-solicit agreements across almost every state in the US. Through her client engagements, Terri aims to provide creative solutions that push the industry forward.

Terri is a seasoned navigator in the turbulent sea of compliance, steering companies clear of high-stakes violations that can trigger million-dollar lawsuits. She's also a guru at tackling everyday issues, from leave laws and performance management to termination procedures and disability accommodations. It's her insightful advice and counsel that makes the difference.

Keeping her clients ahead of the curve is a top priority for Terri. She's an early-warning system, scanning the horizon to identify potential threats and opportunities before they even emerge. Beyond helping her clients stay compliant, she also equips them to excel in their business and supercharge their corporate roles.

In essence, with Terri in your corner, compliance becomes a strategic asset propelling a business towards its goals and driving individual success in every role.

Terri’s practice includes advising and counseling multinational companies; conducting enterprise risk assessments, compliance audits and internal investigations; and providing training for management and employees on employment law, leave laws, anti-discrimination and harassment, diversity, and domestic and international labor and employment law compliance.

She routinely advises on best practices involving hiring processes, employee discipline and dismissals, reductions in force and other expense-reduction measures, accommodations, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, employee privacy, drug testing and employee searches.  Additionally, Terri regularly represents companies in matters that arise under the ADA, ADEA, ERISA, FCRA, FCPA, FLSA, FMLA, NLRA, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, USERRA, WARN, and various state wage and hour, and discrimination laws.

Terri also helps clients with employee applications, offer letters, employment and executive contracts, handbooks and policies, as well as with at-will, non-compete, confidentiality and proprietary information, separation and release, secondment, key employee retention, and services agreements, along with other employment-related documents.

Further, Terri provides tailored guidance on domestic and cross-border labor and employment issues involved in mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, outsourcing, and privacy transactions, as well as post-acquisition integration, global audits, and global codes of conduct.

Professional and Community Involvement

Member, American Bar Association, International Labor & Employment Committee

Member, Chicago Bar Association

Co-founder, Kent College of Law Women Alumnae Networking Group - Legal Ladies Lunching

Practice advisor and author, LexisNexis

Member, Illinois State Bar Association

Former liaison, American Bar Association Commission on Women

Former executive board member, Chicago Bar Association Alliance for Women

Honors

Illinois Super Lawyers, 2020-2024

Best Lawyers in America, 2019-2025

Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent® Rating

Award winner, Disability and Privacy Law, C.A.L.I.

Experience
  • Mergers & Acquisitions

    • Advised on domestic and international employment issues related to divestiture of data protection business for client involving 475 employees and 29 international jurisdictions
    • Provided labor and employment advice to global manufacturing company in connection with $1.2 billion acquisition of a food and beverage industry packaging company
    • Identified and quantified risks to provide best practice advice on employment issues triggered by the divestment of two newly acquired companies with net sales of approximately $100 million
    • Assisted a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services with employment issues associated with the transfer of employees to several countries in connection with the client’s $770 million asset purchase of a hard asset technology company

  • Counseling

    • Advised a Fortune 50 banking and financial services corporation on a 50-country global employment audit involving multiple business lines
    • Advised a Fortune 100 Company on a 50-state Department of Labor audit
    • Advised security service company on its standardization and implementation strategy of non-compete and non-solicit agreements in nearly all 50 states

  • Litigation

    • Successfully defended appeal of Title VII action claiming reverse race discrimination in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
    • Obtained jury verdict of $2.3 million in defamation trial
EXPERIENCE
Presentations
  • “Preventing Scandals- Zero Tolerance for Zero EQ in the Legal Practice and at Trial,” Labor and Employment Law CLE, NAMWOLF Driving Diversity & Leadership Conference, February 2019
  • “Accommodating Mental Health Issues in the Workplace,” Chicago Bar Association, Part I – Dec. 4, 2018 and Part II – Feb. 5, 2019
  • “The ADA: Accommodating Mental Health Issues in the Workplace,” Chicago Bar Association, Oct. 4, 2016
  • “Reviewing and Drafting an Effective Employee Handbook,” Chicago Bar Association, Oct. 8, 2014
  • “Employment and Immigration Compliance Issues for International Corporations in the United States,” Sept. 14, 2014
  • “Best Practices for Workplace Records Retention/Destruction,” May 22, 2014
  • “Global Trends in the Workplace,” April 22, 2014
  • “International Background Checks in the Global Workplace,” Nov. 19, 2013
  • “Records Retention – Creating, Maintaining & Deleting Your Company’s Business and Personnel Records,” Oct. 10, 2013
  • “International Employment Law Basics,” Oct. 5, 2013
  • “The Amended Mexican Federal Labor Law: Changes Employers Should Consider Now,” March 21, 2013
  • “Four More Years: Are you ready for President Obama’s second term?” Jan. 10, 2013
  • “Year in Review for U.S. Employers,” Dec. 6, 2012
  • “Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring in the U.S.,” Nov. 28, 2012
  • “Global Transactions: Avoiding HR Nightmares in Cross-Border Transactions,” Nov. 8, 2012
  • “Social Media: Risks and Rewards,” Japan In-House Counsel Network, Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 11, 2012
  • “Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions,” May 24, 2012
  • “Domestic and International Do’s and Don’ts of Employment Agreements and Offer Letters,” June 7, 2012
  • “Social Media and the Workplace: Employer Challenges with Networking Sites and Privacy,” Foreign Women Lawyers’ Association, Tokyo, Japan, April 2, 2012
  • “Doing Business Globally: Labor and Employment Issues in Cross-Border M&A Transactions,” Nov 17, 2011
  • “The Hiring Process: What Every Employer Needs to Know,” Nov. 15, 2011 and Sept. 6, 2012
  • “Effectively Managing Employee Absence, Illness, Injuries and Time Off,” Health Care Reform and Other New Realities Facing Healthcare Industry Employers seminar, June 25, 2010
Publications
  • Co-author, “Fight For Equal Pay Continues 10 Years After Ledbetter Act,” Law 360, Jan. 28, 2020
  • Editor, “Zero Tolerance: Best Practices for Combating Sex-Based Harassment in the Legal Profession,” American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, 2017
  • Contributing author, LexisNexis’ Lexis Practice Advisor® Outsourcing module, September 2016
  • Contributing author, “Cloud Computing Legal Deskbook,” Thomson Reuters 2015
  • “New for 2015 Illinois Laws: What Employers Should Know,” Illinois Business Leader, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, March 2015
  • Chapter editor, Midwinter Meeting Report of the Fair Labor Standards Act Subcommittee to the ABA Committee on Federal Labor Standards Legislation, 2015
  • “Records and Information Management Programs,” Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Chicago Newsletter No. 140, April 2014
  • “Mexican Federal Labor Law Reform: What Companies Doing Business in Mexico Need to Know,” Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Chicago Newsletter No. 132, June 2013
  • “The Amended Mexican Federal Labor Law: Five Changes Employers Should Consider Now,” Bloomberg BNA, April 25, 2013
  • Social Media and The Workplace,” Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Chicago No. 123, June 2012
  • Contributing author, International Labour and Employment Compliance Handbook, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2012
  • Contributing author, The Human Resources Compliance Manual: An Employment Law Guide for Employers in the United States, American Chamber of Commerce, 2011 and 2012
  • Chapter editor, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Age Discrimination in Employment Law 2011 Cumulative Supplement, American Chamber of Commerce, 2011
  • Contributing author, Employment and Labour Laws and Regulation in the United States – A New Era of Government Enforcement and Employer Compliance: Workplace
  • Harassment and Pre-employment Testing chapters, American Chamber of Commerce, 2011
  • Contributing author, Midwinter Meeting Report of the Fair Labor Standards Act Subcommittee to the ABA Committee on Federal Labor Standards Legislation, 2010 – 2012
  • Legal Guide for Brazilian Companies Doing Business in the U.S., 2010
  • “The ADA Amendments Act of 2008,” The Global Employer, January 2009
INSIGHTS & EVENTS
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