David Morrison - A Veteran Employment Litigator's Career and Life Journey

Summary

David Morrison is a highly experienced employment litigator and an accomplished lawyer who has been practicing law for over three decades. He has successfully represented individuals, corporations and their executives with rights and responsibilities under labor law, and has built a reputation as an effective courtroom advocate. He has experience handling all types of labor disputes and has worked on jury trials, appellate cases and labor arbitrations.


As an attorney, David Morrison has a strong interest in protecting the rights of employees and promoting a healthy workplace environment. He has dedicated himself to protecting the rights of employees in the workplace and has secured many successful settlements for his clients. He has also been involved in multiple class action lawsuits and governmental investigations.

David Morrison is not only an accomplished lawyer, but he is also a passionate educator. He has held several academic appointments in the fields of Employment Law and Labor Relations, including recently appointed faculty positions at the University of Oregon and the University of Michigan. He is an active member in numerous legal organizations, such as the American Bar Association and the National Employment Lawyers Association. Throughout his career, he has been a regular contributor to many legal publications and has written on topics related to labor law and litigation.

David Morrison is also an experienced mediator and has served as a neutral in numerous labor disputes. He is a creative problem solver and works to develop constructive solutions to labor conflicts. He is a trusted resource and has the unique ability to observe, listen and assess the underlying issues in order to develop solutions that benefit both sides during the labor dispute.

David Morrison is a committed and ethical attorney and works hard to ensure that his clients receive the best possible outcome. He believes in the value of hard work and dedication to his profession and is passionate about fighting for his clients' rights. The life and career of David Morrison embody the highest standards of excellence in the field of employment law. He is a successful litigator, educator, and mediator who has committed his career to protecting the rights of all individuals in the workplace.
 

The Life and Career of David Morrison - Top Employment Litigator

David Morrison is one of the top employment litigators in the United States. With over three decades of experience and an impressive list of accomplishments, he is considered by many to be a leader in the field. As a litigator, Mr. Morrison's goal is to help employees who have been wrongfully terminated, discriminated against, or harassed in the workplace.

Mr. Morrison began his journey in corporate law as a student at the University of Michigan Law School where he earned his Juris Doctor in 1984. He then moved to Chicago and began working as a lawyer at one of the city's largest law firms. After several years of practice, he opened his own firm, the Law Offices of David Morrison, in 1987. Since then, he has gone on to become a successful and highly respected employment litigator.

Over the course of his illustrious career, Mr. Morrison has successfully litigated a variety of cases involving wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment. He is particularly passionate about defending the rights of minority groups, such as African Americans, Latinos, and gays and lesbians, who have been discriminated against in the workplace. Mr. Morrison is also known for his advocacy of increased pay equity for women.

In addition to his work in the courtroom, Mr. Morrison is an active member of the legal community. He has served on the board of directors of the Chicago Bar Association and is a founding member of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, an organization dedicated to promoting ethical, professional, and responsible legal practices. He is also a frequent lecturer on topics related to employment law, and has written numerous articles in the field.
 

David Morrison's Journey As A Top Employment Litigator

David Morrison is highly regarded for his impressive career as an employment litigator, helping employees who have been wrongfully terminated, discriminated against, or harassed in the workplace. After graduating from the University of Michigan Law School in 1984, he moved to Chicago and began working at a large law firm. In 1987, he opened his own firm, the Law Offices of David Morrison, and has since become one of the top employment litigators in the United States.

Mr. Morrison has fought and won many cases revolving around wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment cases. He has also advocated for the rights of numerous minority groups, including African Americans, Latinos, and gays and lesbians, as well as increasing pay equity for women. Along with his career as a litigator, he has also served on the board of directors of the Chicago Bar Association and is a founding member of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, an organization devoted to ethical and professional legal practices.

<<"One of the biggest [stumbling blocks] that law school doesn't prepare someone for is the ability to juggle multiple matters—to handle client concerns and to be available and accessible at all times," he said. "They teach juggling to the extent that you need to juggle your classes and do well. One of those implicit lessons of law school is how to balance your workload and excel. But translating that into the time management skills on a day-to-day basis as opposed to over the course of semester is very different."

A 1993 cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Morrison is a labor and employment litigator who has handled discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, and other labor-related cases.

Q: What attracted you to working as an employment attorney?

A: With respect to labor law, it was a combination of litigation and corporate counseling, so that you would be negotiating agreements at the same time as litigating matters in court. You become a more complete lawyer when you're doing both sides of the equation.

Q: What are some of the misconceptions or stereotypes of labor attorneys?

A: Oftentimes you find yourself arguing on the behalf of a company or the employee. You want to avoid allowing yourself to get into the trap where you just make a knee-jerk reaction to arguments. The best way to effectively represent your client is to put on the hat of the other side and give an honest assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your case.

Some people tend to think of labor lawyers as—well, you represent management or you represent employees, and you're either therefore incredibly conservative and only think one way or incredibly liberal and only think one way. Neither one of those things is true.

Q: What are some other hurdles for new associates?

A: One of the things that young associates have difficulty learning is the need to fully engage on the matters they're working on right away. When you're doing your summer internship with law firms, it tends to be a project-by-project basis: here's my next assignment, and I'll do that and then wait to get another assignment. When you're an associate in a law firm, you need to take ownership of your case—thinking on your own what kind of discovery needs to be done, where do I see this coming out in six months, be putting in the brainpower on case strategy. That's a skill that develops over time. The sooner a new associate develops that skill, the more effective he or she can become.

Q: What was your most humbling moment in law school or as a new lawyer?

A: You just have no idea how well you're going to do. You have all this confidence in yourself, and you go to a school like Michigan, and you're in a room with a whole bunch of other people who graduated with 3.8s and did very well on the LSAT. The first round of exams is probably the most humbling thing. By the time you graduate, hopefully you've figured out what it takes to do "A" work and what represents "B" work because you then apply that in your practice. You really want to try to give "A" work whenever you can.

Certainly when you're practicing, the humbling experiences can be those occasions when you're juggling, when you all of a sudden sit back and say, "Did I think about that issue?" Those are the things that keep lawyers up at night: Oh my gosh! Did I think about this issue when I was making that argument? Oh my gosh! Did I do that in the best way possible? The flip side is you've got to learn how to let it go and do the best job you can and not let it consume your life.

Q: What do you look for when hiring?

A: We look for students who are going to be bright enough to do the job, to be able to walk through complex legal problems, but also with a personality that allows them to comfortably interact with clients, with attorneys in the office. There are plenty of times we get students with great grades who we don't make an offer to because they don't have a personality that will mesh well in the office. And there are times when we see people where the grades aren't good enough even though they have one of the greatest personalities in the world.