Practice Expertise

  • Employment, Labor and Benefits
  • Litigation & Dispute Resolution
  • Employment Litigation
  • Business Transitions

Areas of Practice

  • Business Transitions
  • Employment Litigation
  • Employment, Labor and Benefits
  • Litigation & Dispute Resolution
  • Employment Class Action
  • Non-Compete and Trade Secrets
  • Privately Held Businesses & Enterprises
  • Professional Liability
  • Wage and Hour
  • View More

WSG Practice Industries

WSG Leadership

  • WSG Coronavirus Task Force Group - Member

Profile

Elizabeth Schleuning helps clients comply with the ever-changing laws governing employment and defends them vigorously at trial when needed. Drawing on 30 years of trial experience, Elizabeth provides legal advice that helps clients either avoid litigation altogether or build strong defenses in case litigation ensues. Clients appreciate her strategic, practical advice and friendly and timely responsiveness. She has been described as a lawyer who “impresses with her deep subject matter knowledge,” and “thinks outside the box and is able to deal with complex matters in ways that actually work.”

Elizabeth has a particular focus on healthcare and technology clients.  She works with numerous medical and dental groups including small and large single-specialty groups, individual physicians, multi-specialty groups and hospitals. She assists with everything from contracting and litigation, to enforcement of non-competes and general legal advice.  Elizabeth’s many technology clients value her straightforward advice and her significant enforcing their non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality/nda agreements.

Working with Schwabe’s nationally ranked Forest Products team, Elizabeth also represents natural resource industry. She regularly assists these companies in litigation, administrative agency complaint responses and policy development.

Elizabeth also handles wage and hour class action lawsuits as both lead counsel and local counsel for a variety of industries, including retail and banking.

Bar Admissions

  • Oregon State Courts 
  • Washington State Courts
  • United States District Court, District of Oregon 
  • United States District Court, Western District of Washington
  • United States District Court, Eastern District of Washington

Education

  • Willamette University College of Law, Juris Doctor degree, cum laude (1985)
  • Pomona College, Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude (1982)

Areas of Practice

  • Business Transitions
  • Employment Litigation
  • Employment, Labor and Benefits
  • Litigation & Dispute Resolution
  • Employment Class Action
  • Non-Compete and Trade Secrets
  • Privately Held Businesses & Enterprises
  • Professional Liability
  • Wage and Hour

Professional Career

Significant Accomplishments
  • Won a defense verdict in a cutting-edge case against a senior living company involving claims of breast-feeding discrimination. Handled a three-week trial in King County, Washington, and successfully defended the case up through the Washington Supreme Court (2013).
  • Tried a multi-million dollar case against a dental group in Lane County, Oregon to a 10-1 defense verdict (2014).
  • Advised a healthcare client in a manner that successfully avoided a qui tam claim threat by a C-level employee.
  • Obtained a unanimous defense verdict on behalf of a solo healthcare provider in a multi-million dollar lawsuit in Clatsop County, Oregon (2015).
  • Successfully enforced a non-compete against a departing physician from a single specialty group.
  • Negotiated a separation agreement for a C-level executive resulting in over $1 million payout.
  • Advised a financial institution on a significant and complex downsizing resulting from a merger.




Articles

  • Reminder: Workplace Fairness Act goes into Effect October 1
  • Schwabe CARES Act FAQ
  • CARES Act Resources
  • COVID-19: HR 6201 for Natural Resource Industry
  • COVID-19: New Federal Paid Leave Requirements
  • Timber Industry Exemptions from the New Manufacturing Overtime Rule
  • Technology Companies: Oregon's Unique Legal Landscape
  • Schwabe Grows its Reputation as Top Law Firm with New ‎Rankings from Chambers & Partners
  • When Handling Health Info, Destroy That Data ‎Securely
  • Missing a Mandatory Rest Period Could Result in Significant Liability to Employers

Seminar

  • Webinar: Lead Like a Woman
  • Employment Law Seminar
  • Hot Topics in the Workplace 
  • Oregon Dental Convention

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