Philadelphia, October 1, 2024 — Lawdragon has named six members of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department to its annual list of Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers.
Among the honorees are Susan Eisenberg, Jeremy Glenn, Michael Schmidt, Joseph Tilson, Anna Wermuth, and A. Martin Wickliff, Jr.
Both Joseph Tilson (Chicago) and A. Martin Wickliff, Jr. (Houston) were named to the list for the 14th consecutive year; Anna Wermuth (Chicago) has made the list for the eighth consecutive year; Jeremy Glenn (Chicago) and Susan Eisenberg (Miami) have both been named for the fifth consecutive year; and Michael Schmidt (New York) has been named for the fourth consecutive year.
In addition, both Joseph Tilson and A. Martin Wickliff, Jr. are members of the Lawdragon Hall of Fame, recognizing attorneys who have made remarkable career-long contributions as leaders, litigators, dealmakers, power brokers, judges, and innovators.
LawDragon, a Los Angeles-based network for lawyers and clients, produces the annual list of the nation’s top talent representing Corporate America in defending wage and hour, discrimination, and a host of other claims; advising on key matters from immigration to executive compensation and employee benefits; and handling union and other labor-management relations matters. The attorneys are selected based on journalistic research, submissions by firms and clients and vetting by peers.
The 2025 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers list can be viewed here.
Susan Eisenberg was elected to Cozen O’Connor’s Board of Directors in 2022. With over 30 years of experience, she is nationally known for proficiency in wage and hour class action cases and representing employers in all aspects of employment matters with extensive jury and non-jury trial experience involving sex, race, religion, age, and disability harassment and discrimination issues. She is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Labor and Employment and is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL). Eisenberg has an active neutral practice as a certified mediator as well as an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association. A founding member of the Wage and Hour Defense Institute (WHDI), she was named a “Lawyer of the Year” for Labor & Employment Litigation by Best Lawyers in 2024, 2020, and 2016. In 2021, the Daily Business Review honored her with a “Florida Distinguished Leader in Law” award. She has also been recognized as a 2019 “Influential Businesswoman” by the South Florida Business Journal. In addition, she has consistently received a Band 1 ranking from Chambers USA and is also recognized by Chambers Global, Best Lawyers, and SuperLawyers.
Jeremy Glenn was elected to Cozen O’Connor’s Board of Directors in 2023. He has also served on the firm’s Executive Management Committee since 2021 and as the Chicago Office Managing Partner since 2018, overseeing more than 50 attorneys and professional staff. With more than 25 years of experience handling employment disputes and negotiations, Glenn has defended class action wage and hour overtime disputes, EEO class actions, and retaliatory discharge cases. He has tried dozens of labor arbitrations and has led collective bargaining negotiations for employers and employee associations covering thousands of employees. Glenn is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL) and has served as co-chair of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section’s federal labor standards committee, which is devoted to federal wage and hour laws. He received the 2018 and 2020 “Client Choice Awards” from Lexology and the International Law Office (ILO) in the Illinois Employment and Benefits Law field. He is recognized by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers, and Super Lawyers. In addition, he has been recognized four times by Crain’s Chicago Business, most recently as one of their “Notable Leaders in Employment and Labor Law” in 2024.
Michael Schmidt is vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s national Labor and Employment Department and is the office managing partner of the firm’s New York office. For more than 30 years, he has assisted businesses and their management teams throughout the U.S. in accomplishing their goals through litigation, negotiation, and day-to-day counseling. Schmidt is a fellow in The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL). In 2021, he was recognized by The National Law Journal as an “Employment Law Trailblazer” in the use of digital and social media and as the founder and host of the award-winning podcast “Employment Law Now.” His podcast has twice won (2020 and 2021) the JD Supra “Readers’ Choice Award for Top Podcast and Thought Leadership” for his perspectives on employer liability issues. Schmidt has been recognized by his peers in SuperLawyers and by Benchmark Litigation as a “Labor & Employment Star for the Northeast.” In 2022, Schmidt was honored by the New York Law Journal with a “Professional Excellence Innovation” Award.
Joseph Tilson is the former co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department and was a long-standing member of the firm’s Management Committee and Board of Directors. He now serves the firm as a senior counsel, focusing his efforts on mentoring and recruiting labor and employment associates and laterals, as well as business development. In the last 40 years, Tilson has tried more than 150 jury and non-jury cases before the full range of courts, administrative agencies, and labor arbitrators. He is nationally known for his knowledge and success in handling large wage and hour class action cases, but he also has vast experience in collective bargaining involving large and complex bargaining units. Tilson is the past chair of the American Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Section and is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL). He has also been recognized as one of the nation’s top labor and employment lawyers, including being named the Chicago Employment Law “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers five times. He has consistently achieved a Band 1 ranking from Chambers USA and is recognized by Chambers Global.
Anna Wermuth is vice chair of the firm’s national Labor & Employment Department and has been representing management in labor and employment litigation before state and federal courts and administrative agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board for more than 20 years. She is also recognized for her work representing colleges and universities in collective bargaining and faculty litigation and is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL). She currently serves on the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section’s Governing Council and on the Advisory Committee for the Study of the Rules of Practice and Internal Operating Procedures of the District and Bankruptcy Courts of the Northern District of Illinois. She has held numerous other leadership positions in the ABA, including serving as the management co-vice chair for the Section’s National Trial Advocacy Competition and as an employer-vice-chair of the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession Committee. She was recognized in 2022 and 2021 as a “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers and has been recognized six times by Crain’s Chicago Business for her legal, civic, and charitable contributions - most recently named as one of their “Notable Leaders in Employment and Labor Law” in 2024. She is also annually recognized by SuperLawyers and holds a Band 1 ranking from Chambers USA.
A. Martin Wickliff, Jr. is a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department in the Houston office. He is a certified arbitrator and mediator through the American Arbitration Association. His representation of management has included advice and counsel, trials, appeal and administrative proceedings involving all types of discrimination matters (single and multiple plaintiff cases, as well as class actions), retaliation claims, layoffs and reduction in-force, noncompete and nondisclosure/nonsolicitation disputes, trade secrets, unfair competition, Sarbanes-Oxley and other whistle-blower actions, defamation, privacy claims, FMLA and WARN, as well as wage and hour litigation (collective actions and multiple plaintiff lawsuits). Wickliff is a former director of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors and is board certified in labor and employment law by the State Bar of Texas. He has been recognized as one of “The 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter-Century” by Texas Lawyer and “Top 100 in Texas” by Texas Super Lawyers and Texas Monthly. Wickliff is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL), and in past years, he consistently received a Band 1 ranking from Chambers USA. He is now ranked as a Senior Statesman by Chambers USA.
About Cozen O’Connor
Established in 1970, Cozen O’Connor has more than 925 attorneys who help clients manage risk and make better business decisions. The firm counsels clients on their most sophisticated legal matters in all areas of the law, including litigation, corporate, and regulatory law. Representing a broad array of leading global corporations and middle market companies, Cozen O’Connor services its clients’ needs through 32 offices across two continents.
To learn more about Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment practice, click here.