As an Associate in Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s Chicago office, Ashley D. Mitchell supports both the Workplace Safety (OSHA/MSHA) and Labor and Employment practice groups. She represents and advises clients in employer-employee relationship issues, including wage and hour disputes, Title VII discrimination claims, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), workplace policies and procedures, harassment training, and employee handbooks.

In support of the MSHA and OSHA • Workplace Safety Practice Groups, Ashley represents employers during federal OSHA & MSHA and State OSH Plan inspections and investigations. She also guides clients in responding to workplace safety complaints and litigates contests of citations.

Ashley brings valuable experience in employee-side employment litigation. Prior to joining the firm, she interned at the Chicago Park District’s Law Department as a Student Attorney. While at the Domestic Violence & Immigration Clinic, she guided clients through the U-Visa application process.

In 2018, Ashley received her J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law. She also has a B.A. in Government, cum laude, from Georgetown University.

In her spare time, she volunteers by tutoring students preparing for the bar exam.

Get to Know Ashley!

Where is your favorite vacation spot?  

My favorite vacation spot is Cancún. It was my first international vacation and since then, I’ve been several times with family and friends. While I’ve been several times, I’ve never repeated an experience. You can relax, shop, ride an ATV, or explore the culture. Whatever you’re looking for, it’s there—adventure, rest, learning something new.

It’s also a chance for me to practice my Spanish. I often say that I’m proficient in Spanish, not fluent because I learned in academia, so I speak more like an academic than a native speaker. Vacations to Cancún are a great opportunity for me to practice. Keeping up my Spanish language skills is incredibly important to me. My ability to speak Spanish afforded me the opportunity to represent Spanish speaking clients in my law school’s domestic violence and immigration clinic and has proven invaluable in my current practice counseling employers who may have Spanish-speaking employees.

What was your first job?  

My first job was at Continue reading →

Conn Maciel Carey LLP is pleased to announce the addition of two talented new attorneys — Samuel S. Rose (Los Angeles), and Darius Rohani-Shukla (Washington, DC).

Associate Sam Rose supports both the firm’s MSHA/OSHA • Workplace Safety Practices and the Labor and Employment Practice. He represents employers in a broad range of employment issues and Cal/OSHA compliance and enforcement matters, and he revises employee handbooks and workplace policies and procedures.

“I’m excited to grow as attorney and develop true expertise in employment and OSHA law,” Mr. Rose says. “The partners are all so knowledgeable and willing to mentor and train associates.”

Sam’s legal career began at the Kings County District Attorney’s Office (Brooklyn, NY), where he Continue reading →

​Join Kara Maciel and Jordan Schwartz on Tuesday, June 7th at 2 PM ET for a very special bonus event in Conn Maciel Carey’s 2022 Labor and Employment Webinar Series in the form of a panel webinar program regarding The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Workforce in 2022 and Beyond.

Presented by
Conn Maciel Carey LLP with Special Guest
EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling

On May 12, 2022, the EEOC issued a Technical Assistance (“TA”) document entitled, “The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Use of Software, Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence to Assess Job Applicants and Employees” focused on providing “clarity to the public regarding existing requirements” under the ADA and agency policy. This is the first guidance document the EEOC has issued regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) in employment decision-making since announcing its Al Initiative in October 2021.

It’s no secret that more employers have turned to AI to enhance their work processes over the years. An estimated 83% of employers have Continue reading →

Conn Maciel Carey LLP (CMC) is honored to announce that the firm has been recognized as one of only three national law firms ranked in Band 1 Nationwide for Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) Law. CMC is the only “boutique” firm among all of the law firms recognized.

The recognition comes from Chambers and Partners, an independent research company that delivers detailed rankings and insight into the world’s leading lawyers. This is the first year that Chambers has ranked the OSHA Law practice area.

Chambers’ researchers identified CMC as a “leading national boutique handling the full spectrum of labor and employment litigation with particular emphasis on workplace safety issues. The group…maintains a strong track record in complex OSHA inspections and enforcement matters.”

Among the client comments collected by Chambers about the firm, one stated that CMC’s OSHA Team “offers impressive expertise in federal- and state-level workplace safety laws, and has been especially active in recent months guiding clients through COVID-19 compliance…The firm is the real deal; it is a top OSHA firm.”

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Aaron R. Gelb is a partner and head of Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s Chicago office where he leads the firm’s Midwest OSHA workplace safety practice. He has more than 25 years’ experience advising and representing clients in relation to inspections, investigations, and enforcement actions involving federal OSHA and state OSH programs and managing the full range of litigation against OSHA.  In support of the firm’s Labor and Employment practice, Aaron defends employers in equal employment opportunity matters in federal and state courts, having tried multiple cases to verdict and obtained the dismissal of more than 300 discrimination charges before the EEOC and fair employment agencies nationwide.

Aaron is frequently asked to speak at conferences, seminars, and industry-specific forums, covering numerous workplace safety and employment topics for events and organizations nationwide including the American Bar Association, the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, the American Trucking Associations, and the Chicagoland Safety Conference to name a few. Aaron currently leads the Illinois Manufacturers Association’s workplace safety and health education series which includes quarterly webinars and 4 programs during each week of June, which is safety month.  Aaron also helps curate the firm’s annual webinar series – the OSHA Webinar Series and the Labor and Employment Webinar Series and is a frequent contributor to CMC’s blogs – the OSHA Defense Report and the Employer Defense Report.

In addition to his legal practice, Aaron works closely with CMC’s founding partners to help them realize their vision for the firm’s future, acts as a mentor to new partners and associates, actively recruits lateral partner and associate candidates, and helps craft the firm’s strategic marketing plan, including the firm’s social media efforts. Passionate about ensuring equal access to justice for all, Aaron is an active member of the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and is a frequent participant in the Northern District of Illinois’ Settlement Assistance Program in which he presents pro se litigants in court-led settlement conferences.  At the height of the pandemic, Aaron served as a panelist during a program focused on compliance and legal concerns facing Black-owned small businesses struggling to survive in the face of COVID-19.

Get to Know Aaron!

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Conn Maciel Carey LLP, a boutique law firm with national practices in labor and employment, workplace safety (OSHA and MSHA), and litigation, welcomes Mikel Smith Koon in the new position of Chief Operating Officer.

Ms. Koon brings over 20 years of experience in business management, working with both large corporations and small businesses. For 15 of those years, she ran her own consulting firm, using her expertise in project and people management to service her clients. As Conn Maciel Carey’s COO, she manages essential business processes, ensuring the efficiency of the firm’s business functions. More importantly, she fills a new role made necessary by the firm’s significant growth.

“Being a relatively young firm,” says Eric Conn, Chair of the firm’s OSHA Practice, “we’ve graduated from a startup to an established, national firm. We’ve tripled in size. So, we need someone with the talent, experience and savvy to manage the firm’s growingly complex operations.”

As part of the leadership team, she works directly with the Managing Partners to develop and implement the firm’s strategic plan to elevate CMC to the next level. Continue reading →

Black History Month is a time to recognize the contributions of Black Americans throughout U.S. history.  As the month comes to a close, Conn Maciel Carey Partner, Aaron Gelb, reflects on African American mentors and peers who have impacted his life both personally and professionally.

I’ve been fortunate during my life and career to have been influenced and shaped by several African American mentors, friends, and colleagues.  Starting at the beginning, my godfather, Sidney Bertrand, had a big influence on me as I remember spending time with him and his wife, Zelda, at their apartment on 125^th Street in Harlem as a young kid, having sleepovers, etc.  Although Sidney succumbed to cancer at a relatively young age, his efforts in the face of adversity taught me a lot.

When I was in college at the University of Chicago, I worked as a teaching assistant to Continue reading →

Conn Maciel Carey LLP, a boutique law firm with national practices in labor and employment, workplace safety (OSHA and MSHA), and litigation, is pleased to announce that Lindsay DiSalvo has been promoted to Partner in the firm’s Washington, DC office.

Ms. DiSalvo defends employers in OSHA inspections, investigations, and litigation. She also represents and advises employers in all phases of the employer-employee relationship. Ms. DiSalvo was the firm’s very first Associate, joining the firm the day it was founded in 2014.

“She has been a backbone of the firm since we launched,” says Eric Conn, a co-founding partner and Chair of the firm’s national OSHA Practice. “I am excited to finally call her my Partner. She has grown into one of the finest OSHA lawyers in the country.”

“I have been working toward this my entire career,” Ms. DiSalvo says. “It is particularly exciting to be chosen by people I have been working with since the beginning. I feel like I helped build this firm, and now I am a Partner. I feel honored.”

Mr. Conn adds, “As a specialty boutique firm, what sets us apart is the mastery of the nuance of the practices for which we are known – workplace safety and employment law.  Ms. DiSalvo adds Continue reading →

Kara Maciel is a founding Partner of Conn Maciel Carey and Chair of the firm’s national labor & employment practice group. 

Ms. Maciel works to create workplace solutions for her clients.  She counsels clients on issues related to ADA accessibility requirements, wage hour compliance, prevention of harassment and discrimination, effective employment policies and procedures, and developing a compliant employee handbook. She also defends employers in litigation at both the federal and state levels.  For unionized and non-unionized companies, Ms. Maciel provides advice and counsel regarding the employer’s rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Kara is an avid traveler (pre-pandemic) and foodie, so it makes perfect sense that she focuses much of her practice on issues facing companies in the hospitality industry (including hotel owners and managers, resorts, restaurants, and country clubs); retail; grocery; food distributors; and non-profit sectors.

Get to Know Kara!

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