Matthew Levine is an attorney in the Chicago office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., where he represents management in labor relations and employment matters. Assisting clients nation-wide in the traditional and construction labor arena from his roots in Chicago’s richly unionized labor market, Matt also frequently handles employment matters under Title VII and the other federal discrimination statutes, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the rapidly evolving practice of social media use in the workplace. A contributing editor to The Developing Labor Law, he also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Villanova Sports and Entertainment Law Journal and wrote “Despite His Antics, T.O. Has a Valid Point: Why NFL Players Deserve a Bigger Piece of the Pie,” 13 VILL. SPORTS & ENT. L.J. 425 (2006). Matt won the book award “For Excellence in the Study of Labor and Employment Law” sponsored by the ABA’s Section of Labor and Employment Law and the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. Additionally, he has worked at the Region IV office of the National Labor Relations Board.
Experience
Matt’s record in the traditional labor arena is almost unblemished, including:
- Obtaining an injunction against a union’s violent and disruptive picket for a national chemical engineering firm
- Winning a precedent-setting arbitration for an international steel company in which the union sought to prevent the company from restructuring its workforce during the company’s worst economic quarter in its history
- Convincing a Regional Director at the National Labor Relations Board to reverse his own decision and not issue a complaint against a company that had to lay off several employees after production dropped severely
- Successfully guiding both sellers and buyers through transactions by avoiding the potential obstacles that labor obligations can bring to any sale
In the employment arena, Matt played a critical role in a multi-year audit of an international telecommunications company’s payroll practices under the FLSA. Matt has also successfully litigated claims under Title VII, the ADEA, the ADA, the FMLA, and OSHA, as well as defamation claims and trust fund audits.
Illinois
Education and Honors
- Editor-in-Chief, Villanova Sports and Entertainment Law Journal
Professional Activities
- American Bar Association (Labor & Employment Law Section)
- Illinois State Bar Association (Labor & Employment Law Section)
- Chicago Bar Association (Labor & Employment Law Section, Young Lawyers Section, Sports and Entertainment Law Section)
- Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services (Vice President of Associate Board)
- Big Brother Big Sister
- Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
In The News
- 2006 - Villanova Sports & Entertainment Law Journal - "Despite His Antics, T.O. Has a Valid Point: Why NFL Players Deserve a Bigger Piece of the Pie"