I relish, pun intended, the hospitality industry. I supported myself through seven years of college and law school at Cornell University by bartending at several local establishments. That experience, combined with my love of food and travel, ultimately drew me to the hospitality industry as an attorney and later as an adjunct professor at Cornell’s Hotel School.

I grew up living in the United States, Canada, Liberia, and Kenya before returning to the United States to attend Cornell in 1982, and I speak fluent Swahili. During college, I spent three summers working at a refugee camp in southern Sudan, now South Sudan. Since graduating from law school in 1990, I have devoted my practice to labor and employment law, primarily representing hotel and restaurant management companies and owners. My international background gives me a unique and valuable perspective on the hospitality industry, which draws much of its strength from cultural and ethnic diversity. Practicing labor and employment law in this industry requires an understanding of sociology and anthropology as much as it does traditional legal training, and I remain a dedicated student of these disciplines.

I have extensive experience litigating labor and employment matters in federal and state courts, private and public arbitration, and before administrative agencies, including the EEOC, USDOL, NLRB, and numerous state and municipal agencies. Wage and hour class and collective action litigation represents a growing portion of this work. I spend as much time counseling hospitality clients on how to avoid litigation as I do aggressively representing their interests when claims arise. My counseling practice focuses on training, leadership, compliance audits, and organizational design. I also advise clients on traditional labor matters and represent their interests in union campaigns, collective bargaining, and related disputes. My labor practice extends beyond the United States and includes consulting in Canada, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

I am honored to serve as an adjunct professor at Cornell’s Hotel School, a position I have held since 1998. I teach Hospitality Business Law, Employment Law, and Labor Relations in the Hospitality Industry. The synergy between my law practice and my academic appointment at the Cornell Hotel School, the premier hotel management program in the United States, is not only professionally enriching but also makes me a more effective advocate for my clients.

Outside of work, I love to travel, particularly when it gives me the opportunity to visit family spread across the world. I consider myself an expert in both tasting and cooking great food. Most of all, I value spending time with my children and watching them grow into and pursue their own passions.