Davis+Gilbert LLP

Labor + Employment

Partner

Shira Franco, a partner in the firm’s Labor + Employment Practice Group, focuses on employment counseling, investigations, and litigation for financial services, technology, and advertising and marketing companies. She helps clients mitigate legal risks as they scale their businesses and provides them with practical guidance on the numerous laws impacting the workplace.

Banks, hedge funds, fintech companies, and other financial services and technology employers call on Shira for day-to-day guidance on workplace issues and depend on her exceptional skill in analyzing and solving personnel challenges. She anticipates the trajectory of legal claims brought by employees and resolves sensitive employment-related issues before they escalate. C-suite executives also call on her to negotiate their employment contracts, severance packages and post-employment restrictions.

When meeting with clients, Shira focuses first on gaining a clear understanding of the client’s business and culture. Then she helps develop legally compliant HR policies and workplace best practices tailored to the client’s specific workforce needs. When disputes arise, she leads investigations of harassment, discrimination and retaliation claims.

A well-prepared and tenacious litigator, she has successfully defended clients in race, age, sex, pregnancy and disability discrimination cases, in wage and hour cases, and in breach of contract disputes involving violations of confidentiality, noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements. From complete victories in employment discrimination lawsuits to winning dismissals of complex employee contract cases, Shira has an impressive record in prevailing for clients in federal and state courts and before federal, state and local administrative agencies.

Member, New York City SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management)

Member, 100 Women in Finance

Member, Harvard Law School Women's Alliance

Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2001)

University of California - Berkeley (A.B., with highest distinction, 1998)