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I think of my experience in employment law this way. I think I’ve owned my own business for almost six years. That has tons of insight. I’ve lived through a business winding down. That provided tons of insight. I’ve been in the working world for almost 40 years. I started working in a bakery when I was 12 or 13, so that provides insight. And what’s unique about us is that we’re on all sides of the employment equation. We’re helping folks when they leave their place of employment, individuals. We’re helping individuals when they go into their next job. We’re helping individuals try to figure out what their rights are while they’re at employers working. We’re helping employers try to optimize their workplace. We’re helping employers try to avoid lawsuits. We’re helping employers when they’re in lawsuits.
And I do a lot of mediations. So, I sit in a room like this and try to ask folks to compromise on their problems. I do between 30 and 50 of those a year. My colleagues and I also do a lot of neutral work, is what I call it, that mediation gig is a neutral thing. Training is really neutral, you’re just trying to help folks. But also investigations. Someone has a problem at work and they want someone from the outside to come in and take a peak and say, “What’s really going on here?” without taking a side, we do a lot of that work. So, I think that’s kind of what my life’s work has been.
Minneapolis and St. Cloud employment law attorney Sheila Engelmeier reflects on her experience practicing employment law.