PHILADELPHIA, September 24, 2024―Twelve Duane Morris LLP attorneys have been named to the 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers guide.

• Ted J. Chiappari – Corporate Immigration (New York)
• W. Michael Gradisek – Executive Compensation & Benefits (Philadelphia)
• Delia A. Isvoranu – Employment Litigation, Wage and Hour, Class Actions (San Francisco)
• Eve I. Klein –  Employment Law & Litigation (New York)
• Gerald L. Maatman Jr. – Employment, Class Action Litigation (Chicago)
• John A. Reade Jr. – Executive Compensation & Benefits (Philadelphia)
• Jennifer A. Riley – Workplace Class Action Litigation (Chicago)
• Bronwyn L. Roberts – Commercial & Employment Litigation (Boston)
• Denyse Sabagh – Hall of Fame – Immigration (Washington, D.C.)
• Jonathan A. Segal – Labor & Employment (Philadelphia)
• Thomas G. Servodidio – Labor & Employment (Philadelphia)
• Kevin E. Vance – Commercial & Employment Litigation (Boca Raton)

The 18th edition of the guide represents the nation’s best advisers on workplace mobility, employee benefits and executive compensation, traditional labor matters, wage-and-hour class actions disputes, and discrimination and noncompete agreements. The guide is 46 percent female and 26 percent inclusive.

Ted J. Chiappari is the head of the firm's Immigration Law Group. He represents companies seeking to acquire temporary work permits or permanent resident status for their foreign employees and also represents individuals on maintenance of U.S. resident status while abroad and on citizenship matters, including dual citizenship and loss of citizenship. He also advises on tax aspects of international transfer of personnel.

W. Michael Gradisek chairs the firm's Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group. His practice encompasses all areas of employee benefits and executive compensation. He counsels employers and plans sponsors on a daily basis regarding the requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA and has advised clients with respect to fiduciary responsibilities, prohibited transactions and day-to-day administration of tax-qualified and ERISA-covered plans. His practice involves counseling employers and executives on the design and compliance of nonqualified deferred compensation, severance and other executive agreements with IRS Code Section 409A and he routinely advises clients on equity compensation issues.

Delia A. Isvoranu is a trial attorney with extensive experience in the litigation defense of all types of employment-related matters, wage-and-hour claims and class actions, and commercial disputes. She has tried over a dozen cases in various venues involving a broad range of employment claims, as well as commercial breach of contract and fraud actions. She has obtained summary judgment in dozens of employment matters, and has also defeated class certification in multiple wage-and-hour putative class actions. Isvoranu has also handled a number of appeals as a respondent in state and federal court and has argued before appellate courts on numerous occasions.

Eve I. Klein serves as chair of the Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group and serves as the firm’s employment counsel. She has over 30 years of experience representing businesses in all aspects of employment law, management labor relations and employment-related litigation. Klein has extensive experience advising clients about their rights and obligations regarding the complex and frequently changing federal, state and local laws and regulations that affect the workplace. She counsels clients on day-to-day workplace matters, in mergers and acquisitions, and in protecting company good will and proprietary information.

Gerald L. Maatman Jr., chair of the Duane Morris Workplace Class Action Group, has nearly four decades’ experience of practicing law and has defended some of the most significant bet-the-company cases ever filed against corporate America. Maatman has represented companies, executive teams and boards across the country in class action litigation, ranging in size from thousands to hundreds of thousands of claims by employees. Among his accomplishments, he defended and defeated the largest systemic enforcement action ever brought in the history of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the first attorney general prosecution of a Wall Street company for workplace discrimination and harassment, and the largest wage-and-hour class and collective actions ever brought in Florida and New York. 

John A. Reade Jr. is a partner in the Duane Morris Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group. His practice encompasses the entire area of employee benefits, including executive compensation and severance agreements, qualified and nonqualified plans, health and welfare plans, ERISA litigation, employee benefits issues in corporate transactions, fiduciary related issues involving prohibited transactions and qualified plan advice and representation of clients before the DOL, IRS and PBGC.

Jennifer A. Riley, vice chair of Duane Morris’ Workplace Class Action Group, has defended companies faced with significant complex litigation matters for more than two decades. She regularly defends companies facing class actions, collective actions, pattern or practice lawsuits and other types of representative proceedings, ranging in size from dozens to tens of thousands of claims. Working on the forefront of the developing law in an ever-changing arena, Riley regularly develops strategies for navigating some of the largest challenges faced by corporate America today and counsels employers confronted with a range of complex theories that span from claims of discrimination or sexual harassment to myriad types of alleged wage-and-hour and statutory privacy violations.

Bronwyn L. Roberts handles commercial and employment matters for clients ranging from early stage startups to Fortune 100 companies. She has a broad-based practice in the area of employment, helping clients to minimize risk and resolve disputes through practical employment solutions and, when necessary, litigation. She has conducted numerous high-profile, sensitive investigations of employee misconduct and disloyalty, and she has helped guide employers through difficult resolutions.

Denyse Sabagh practices in the areas of immigration and nationality law and litigation. Sabagh has more than 30 years of experience in representing diverse clients. She helps corporate clients manage both inbound and outbound employment immigration. She is a recognized leader in all aspects of immigration law. She has in depth experience representing individual and corporate clients for all of their immigration needs including E, H, J, L, O, P and TN nonimmigrant and EB-1, PERMs, immigrant visas, EB 5 immigrant investor visa, J-1 waivers and outbound issues. She also represents clients in I-9 audits, complex immigration cases, consular processing and immigration ramifications of criminal charges.

Jonathan A. Segal is a partner at Duane Morris LLP in the Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group. He is also the managing principal of the Duane Morris Institute, which provides training for human resource professionals, in-house counsel, benefits administrators and managers at Duane Morris, at client sites and by way of webinar on myriad employment, labor, benefits and immigration matters. Previously a litigator, Segal’s practice now focuses almost entirely on helping employers meet their business objectives or missions by minimizing legal risk, maximizing compliance and focusing on relationship with business objectives or mission and legal requirements or restrictions.

Thomas G. Servodidio is vice chairman of the firm and also serves on the firm's Executive Committee. For over 30 years, he has represented corporate clients and senior executives in all aspects of complex employment law and management labor relations. Servodidio represents businesses in all types of employment litigation, including the defense of employment discrimination claims, wrongful discharge cases, wage-and-hour litigation, employment contract matters and restrictive covenant litigation. Servodidio also counsels businesses on a variety of employment matters such as the preparation of human resource policies, the development of diversity and inclusion programs, affirmative action programs, employee investigations, reductions in the workforce and OSHA citations.

Kevin E. Vance is managing partner of the firm's Boca Raton office. Vance represents businesses in litigation matters, including those involving employees. He also advises businesses on compliance with federal, state and local laws involving the employment relationship. Vance is board certified by the Florida Bar in Labor and Employment law. He is also AV® Preeminent Peer Review rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Vance represents businesses in a wide variety of litigation matters, including matters alleging breach of contract, breach of noncompete covenants, misappropriation of trade secrets, wrongful termination, whistleblowing, employment discrimination/retaliation, negligence and unpaid wages.

About Duane Morris

Duane Morris LLP provides innovative solutions to today’s multifaceted legal and business challenges through the collegial and collaborative culture of its more than 900 attorneys in offices across the United States and internationally. The firm represents a broad array of clients, spanning all major practices and industries. Duane Morris has been recognized by BTI Consulting as both a client service leader and a highly recommended law firm.