Julie L. Trester

Member

Cozen O'Connor

Julie represents management on a wide array of labor and employment issues. She regularly counsels employers about compliance with applicable laws, including local, state, and federal fair employment laws, the FLSA and state equivalents, the NLRA, the WARN Act and its state counterparts, and compliance with Executive Order 11246. She advises employers with respect to developing successful and legally compliant diversity initiatives. She represents employers in collective bargaining, labor arbitrations, and unfair labor practice proceedings. She also regularly litigates the full panoply of labor and employment issues before federal and state agencies and courts. She has handled numerous appellate matters and has argued before the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals for the Third and Seventh Circuits, the Illinois Supreme Court, the Iowa Supreme Court, and various districts of the IllinoisAppellate Court.

Julie graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law, receiving the Rickert Award for Public Service as the result of her pro bono contributions in law school. She is the former co-chair of the Cozen O’Connor Women’s Initiative and a member of the firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. She served on the inaugural board of directors for the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms and currently sits on the board of directors for the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, an organization dedicated to the care and early education of infants and toddlers. She and has also been a part of two separate Host Committees for the Chicago Foundation for Women’s Annual Luncheon. Julie previously taught as an adjunct professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and is a frequent writer and speaker on labor and employment law issues.