Closing General Session: The EEOC: An Insiders' Perspective
Happening on the main stage, general sessions feature main stage speakers covering hot topics in the world of employment law & compliance.
Sharon Fast Gustafson
Sharon Fast Gustafson is the immediate past General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she enforced Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
Ms. Gustafson is currently Of Counsel to First Liberty Institute, a public interest law firm committed to defending religious liberty in the workplace and in all aspects of American life.
Ms. Gustafson graduated with honors from Georgetown Law Center in 1991 and has concentrated her practice in employment law. She worked for four years in the labor and employment law group at Jones, Day in Washington, D.C. For 16 years prior to her time at the EEOC, she had a broad-based solo practice advising and representing employers and employees in handling all aspects of the employment relationship, in compliance with federal and state workplace laws, and in designing and implementing sound employment policies and practices.
Ms. Gustafson is an experienced litigator in federal and state courts; before administrative agencies, including the EEOC, state and local civil rights offices, and the Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division; and in mediation and arbitration. She is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, and in the United States Supreme Court.
Ms. Gustafson successfully litigated a pregnancy discrimination case, Young v. UPS, 575 U.S. 206 (2015), from EEOC intake to a successful outcome at the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2016, she received the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association’s “Lawyer of the Year” award “in recognition of outstanding dedication to Civil Rights, Equality, and Justice.”
David Lopez
David Lopez is Professor of Law and Professor Alfred Slocum Scholar at Rutgers Law School. From 2018-21, David Lopez, served as Dean of Rutgers Law School-Newark campus.
During this period he has testified in front of Congressional Committees on issues including AI and Discrimination, Latino/s in the Entertainment Industry, and Equal Employment Opporunity Commission conciliation rule.
Prior to serving as Dean, he was the partner-in-charge of Outten and Golden, a plaintiff-side civil rights/class action firm, leading the firm's Washington D.C. Office. Until December 2016, he served for six years as the General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and thus acted as the lead lawyer for the nation's primary administrative agency charged with enforcing federal employment anti-discrimination laws.
He has a rich and deep background in public interest law and using the legal system to champion the principles of equality and opportunity. He has also taught at Harvard Law School and Georgetown Law Center.
Dean Lopez was twice nominated to the General Counsel position by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate. As General Counsel, he led the litigation program for the nation’s primary administrative agency charged with enforcing federal employment anti-discrimination laws and oversaw 15 regional attorneys and a staff of more than 325 people. This included leading high-impact litigation in federal courts nationwide, including the United States Supreme Court, addressing LGBTQ coverage under the anti-discrimination law, vulnerable immigrant communities, criminal background screens, disability rights, and religious freedom. As a General Counsel and in the private sector, Lopez argued several cases in U.S. appellate courts across the country and, previous with the EEOC, was lead attorney in several successful trials.
Prior to joining the EEOC, Dean Lopez was a senior trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division Employment Litigation Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C. Previously, he was an associate with Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP in Washington D.C.
Dean Lopez is a widely sought-after speaker who has made more than 50 speeches and presentations before the American Bar Association, state and local bar associations, and various advocacy, non-governmental organizations and universities. He also serves on the board of the National Women’s Law Center, the Impact Fund (an Oakland-based non-profit offering support to public interest lawyers and communities through training, co-counsel and grants to advance civil rights and social justice), Toward Justice, a Denver-based non-profit dedicated to advancing economic justice and advocacy, and formerly with the ACLU-DC.
Dean Lopez is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Attorneys. In 2014, The National Law Journal named him one of “America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsels.” Among the organizations that have recognized him for his work on social justice issues are: the International Religious Liberty Association, which gave him its National Religious Freedom Award, Liberty Magazine, the North American Religious Liberty Association, which cited his work on civil, religious, and employment rights; the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which gave him its Friend in Government Award in 2012.
He has been called a “Latino Luminary” by the magazine Diversity and the Bar and in 2011 Hispanic Business named him to its list of 100 “Influentials” in the Hispanic community. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.
James L. Banks, Jr.
James L. "Jim" Banks serves as SHRM's General Counsel, managing SHRM's legal functions, overseeing the work of outside counsel, and serving as key lawyer and legal advisor on major business transactions.
Previously, Banks served as City Attorney to the City of Alexandria, Va., representing and advising the mayor, city council, city manager and city departments on a variety of legal matters. He was previously a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and McGuireWoods LLP, where he focused on employment litigation.
Banks began his legal career in Richmond, Va., and he practiced law in the private and public sectors, including serving as both prosecutor and judge. He has a broad background in legal ethics and spent over 10 years in the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary system, ultimately serving as Chair of the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board. He was an instructor for the Virginia State Bar Professionalism Course and has taught frequently on topics of ethics and professionalism. He is also an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech in the Master of Public Administration program.
Banks is a veteran of the U.S. Army and Virginia Army National Guard and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia, a master's degree in Public Policy from Walden University and a bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College.
This speaker is a member of the SHRM Speakers Bureau.