Jody A. Boquist

A founding member of Littler's Chicago office established in 1997, Jody A. Boquist previously served as the Office Managing Shareholder for the Chicago office, and served as Associate General Counsel for Littler for eight years. She has been a member of the firm’s Client Investment Management Committee, Good Business Practices Committee, and the Associates Committee. Jody represents employers nationwide in a broad range of high stakes litigation matters in federal and state courts, as well as administrative agencies such as the EEOC, the Department of Labor and the Illinois Department of Human Rights. Jody focuses her practice on:

• Class actions
• Discrimination, harassment and retaliation defense
• Wage and hour
• Illinois common law wrongful discharge
• Breach of contract
• Common law tort defense, including tortious interference, defamation and invasion of privacy
• Arbitration matters
• Covenants not to compete

Jody frequently handles claims arising under:

• Title VII and Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Acts
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• The Federal Arbitration Act
• The Americans with Disabilities Act
• The Family and Medical Leave Act
• Sarbanes-Oxley
• Illinois common law
• The Illinois Human Rights Act

Jody routinely handles the investigation and litigation of systemic discrimination matters. Among her notable litigation successes, Jody has served as lead counsel for many high-profile matters resolved on summary judgment, and as lead counsel in appeal proceedings before several United States Courts of Appeals which ruled in favor of the employer clients in those matters. Those appeals involved a variety of issues, including motions to compel mandatory arbitration, race discrimination, and age discrimination. In a hotly contested group of race harassment cases, Jody obtained several dispositive rulings and negotiated a favorable resolution on the sole remaining claim. Jody also recently obtained a partial motion for summary judgment regarding the methodology that should be used to calculate alleged damages in a wage and hour class action. The ruling reduced the potential exposure in the action by roughly 75% and led to a favorable resolution of the case.

Jody also counsels employers on a broad range of employment issues, including:

• Employment terminations
• Sexual harassment investigations
• Reductions-in-force
• Workplace violence
• Family and medical leaves
• Personnel policies and procedures

Her clients span the following industries:

• Insurance
• Healthcare
• Finance
• Consulting
• Retail
• Legal

In law school, Jody was a member of the Minnesota Law Review.