Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Labor and Employment Department; Employment Litigation & Counseling, ERISA & Employee Benefits Litigation, Air & Rail Specialty Group, Whistleblower Team

With nearly 20 years of experience as a labor and employment litigator with Seyfarth Shaw, Ada is a trusted advisor to clients in the airline, retail, healthcare and manufacturing industries. Her practice focuses on advice and counsel and innovative litigation involving:
- complex procedural defenses including: preemption of state law claims under ERISA, Railway Labor Act, Airline Deregulation Act, Federal Aviation Act, and the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Act (SGLIA); Article III and statutory standing; statute of limitations; and administrative exhaustion requirements, among others
- Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) claims, prevailing as lead counsel in the first BIPA case to be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- whistleblower claims under state law, AIR21, Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley
- discrimination claims in state and federal jurisdictions across the country, including under Title VII, ADA, Section 1981, and the ADEA, and their state law counterparts, including systemic actions brought by the EEOC
- ERISA single, multi-plaintiff and class action matters involving denial of health, disability, life, pension and 401(k) benefits, including defense of high profile “stock drop,” retiree medical and 401(k fee class actions

Her class action experience includes unique procedural issues including sustaining removal of cases to federal court on preemption and Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) grounds, successfully opposing a named plaintiff-intervenor, successfully petitioning for Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(f) review of class certification, obtaining appellate CAFA review and reversal of a district court remand order, defeating and narrowing class certification, and negotiating and overseeing settlements in classes of up to 160,000 class members.  In 2019, her unique legal strategy in a a commercial airline matter was recognized for innovation by The Financial Times.

Ada co-chairs the firm's Air and Rail specialty team, and am a member of its ERISA and Employee Benefits Litigation practice group, Whistleblower team and Health Care and Provider Fraud team.

Ada was admitted to the bar in 2004 and elevated to partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP in 2013, where she has spent her entire career since 2003.

Seyfarth Shaw LLP Pro Bono Committee; Co-Lead, Seyfarth Shaw LLP National Whistleblower Team; American Bar Association (Labor & Employment Law and Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Sections; Section of Labor & Employment Law--Co-Chair Employment Discrimination Subcommittee, Employee Benefits Committee; Section of Tort Trial and Insurance Practice; Forum on Air and Space Law; regular presenter at the Committee’s Mid-Winter meetings and the ABA’s ERISA Basics, National Institute on ERISA Litigation, and Advanced ERISA Benefit Claims Litigation seminars); Chicago Bar Association (Class Action, Employee Benefits, Labor and Employment Law, and Alliance for Women Committees); Board of Directors, Connections for Abused Women and their Children; Past Co-Chair and Board Member, Young Professionals Board of the Legal Assistance Foundation.

JD, Northwestern University School of Law (2004), cum laude; BA, University of Wisconsin, Madison (1999)