Laura Bernardo Sorafine
Laura Bernardo Sorafine represents employers in a full range of labor and employment law matters. She has substantial experience advising and litigating on behalf of employers in discrimination/harassment claims, labor-management relations and disputes, including labor arbitration, wage and hour matters, and various contractual disputes, including non-competition and trade secret matters. She also drafts employment agreements, handbooks and policies, and conducts legal compliance seminars for both management and non-management personnel.
Laura brings practical litigation strengths and perspectives to her clients. She has represented employers in federal and state courts, before administrative agencies including the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and the Department of Labor, and in labor arbitration. Before joining Foley Hoag she served as a Public Defender in Boston Municipal Court and as a Clerk at the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
Bars and Court Admissions
- Massachusetts
- U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Representative Experience
The following is a brief summary of Laura's experience and accomplishments:
- Obtained summary judgment against a former employee who claimed she was terminated because of gender discrimination and whistleblower retaliation
- Successfully represented a Fortune 500 company in a representation hearing before the National Labor Relations Board
- Obtained a favorable settlement in a wage and hour class action brought against current and former employees of a large construction company
- Obtained dismissal of a state law wage claim and wrongful termination claim in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts as preempted by the Labor Management Relations Act
- Obtained dismissal of several unfair labor practice charges filed against a Fortune 500 company
- Tried numerous arbitrations on behalf of a Fortune 500 company
- Obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of a school in a claim of disability discrimination before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination
- Obtained dismissal of a wage and hour claim before the New Hampshire Department of Labor
- Represented a large manufacturing company in a claim of transgender discrimination before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination
professional / civic involvement
- Justinian Law Society, Member
- Boston Bar Association, Member
- Massachusetts Bar Association, Labor and Employment Section, Section Review Co-Chair