Ms. Shannon C. Leary is a Partner at Gilbert Employment Law and the Chair of the Firm’s LGBTQ and Gender Issues Practice Group. Ms. Leary has extensive experience representing federal and private sector employees in litigation involving a variety of employment discrimination issues, including disability, age, sex, national origin, and race-based claims. As part of her practice, Ms. Leary frequently represents LGBTQ employees before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, other fair employment practice agencies, and federal courts. As a result, she understands and is sensitive to the unique obstacles members of the LGBTQ community face in the workplace. Likewise, having successfully represented many victims of sexual harassment, including victims of sexual assault in the workplace, Ms. Leary is sensitive to the trauma such victims have faced and continue to face as they pursue justice.

Ms. Leary, a member of the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association, presented a session at the 2017 Nevada State Bar Annual meeting, entitled “Transgender Issues: Rights and Responsibilities in the Workplace.” She also presented a session at the 2013 EEOC EXCEL Training Conference entitled, “Remedies Available to Successful Complainants,” in which she provided instruction on varying remedies available within the federal sector EEO process. Ms. Leary also authored the articles, “The Writing Is On The Wall: The Continuing Evolution Of Legal Protections Based On Sexual Orientation” in the Fall 2016 Edition of the Maryland State Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law Newsletter; “A Guideline to the Federal Sector Equal Employment Opportunity Administrative Process,” in the Spring 2013 Edition of Trial Reporter, Journal of the Maryland Association for Justice; and “Groups Battle Over the Inclusion of Gender-Identity in Montgomery County’s Anti-Discrimination Laws,” in the Summer 2009 Edition of the Maryland State Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law Newsletter.

Ms. Leary earned her Juris Doctor, Cum Laude, from American University Washington College of Law, where she served as the Senior Staff Editor for The Modern American, a legal publication dedicated to examining diversity-related issues. She graduated magna cum laude from Villanova University.