Employers' Advocate

Work is integral to everyone's life, which is why Day Pitney partner Rachel Gonzalez became interested in practicing labor and employment law.

"I consider my biggest wins those moments of using legal skill and experience to find resolutions to conflicts that affect clients' daily lives," said Gonzalez.

After graduating from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Gonzalez started her career in human resources for a global corporation, working in both the United States and Sweden. She decided that she wanted to be involved in legal decisions involving the workplace, so she went to law school.

Gonzalez is now working with several of the firm's top clients in both litigation and transactional capacities. She routinely counsels clients in all aspects of labor and employment law and has advised on several high-profile labor disputes and union organizing campaigns. She represents clients at collective bargaining negotiations, labor arbitrations, in administrative proceedings and state and federal courts. Gonzalez also performs due diligence and assures compliance on the legal risks associated with the impact of business change on the workforce for business transactions including sales, acquisitions, stock and asset purchases, workplace closings and relocations.

One of those clients is Dassault Falcon Jet Corp, which she has worked with for over five years.

"Rachel is an outstanding and conscientious lawyer. She is extremely professional about following up with all of our EEOC matters," says Peter S. Rothwell, Esq., Corporate Secretary and General Counsel-Subsidiary Operations at Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. "Besides being a great legal writer, she excels at mediation and negotiation. She has proven herself to be a terrific value for us."

"She is the kind of lawyer that knows the fine points of complicated labor law, an attribute guaranteed to keep clients from slipping into unintentional traps. She has impressive networks at agencies where most problem cases end up landing," says Anne Van Bennekom, Director of Human Resources at Dassault Falcon Jet - Wilmington Corp. "As a partner, she will keep clients loyal to their law firms when their tried and true attorneys cycle out with the passing of time."

When Gonzalez isn't improving her clients' workplaces, she is acting as a mentor to younger lawyers and high school students, many of whom are also Latina.

EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR

University of Connecticut School of Law, J.D., with Honors, 2005

Cornell University, B.S., 2000

Admissions: New Jersey, New York