Margaret Sewell is a partner with Clark Baird Smith LLP. Margaret focuses her practice on helping employers navigate through a range of challenging labor and employment issues, including workplace safety issues and internal investigations.
Prior to joining Clark Baird Smith LLP, Margaret served as the Deputy Regional Solicitor for the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor. In this role she was responsible for the planning, direction, and coordination of all litigation activities for the Chicago Regional Office and two branch offices in Cleveland and Kansas City. She managed a team of over 50 attorneys and provided legal advice directly to agency clients such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. the Wage and Hour Division and the Employee Benefits Security Administration. Margaret is also an experienced negotiator and has served as the lead negotiator on many significant OSHA and Wage and Hour matters of national import.
Margaret’s experience also includes serving as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where she conducted numerous jury and bench trials, led sensitive grand jury investigations, and handled appeals before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Her experience also extends to advising Congress on sensitive workplace policy matters as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security. At the beginning of her legal career, Margaret was a management-side attorney at a large private law firm in Chicago, Illinois.
Margaret has frequently served as an instructor at the OSHA Training Institute in Arlington Heights, Illinois. She has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern University where she has taught Trial Advocacy.
L.L.M., Georgetown University Law Center; International and Comparative Law, with distinction (2003)
J.D., DePaul University, School of Law, with honors (1997)
B.A., University of Iowa; Journalism and Mass Communication, 1993
Admitted to the practice of law in Illinois
Secretary v. Didion Milling, Inc. Lead trial attorney responsible for investigating, developing and issuing $1.8 million in OSHA citations (the largest OSHA penalty in Wisconsin history) resulting from a grain explosion which killed five workers. Criminal conviction obtained by DOJ against company and managers for false statements to OSHA,.
Secretary v. Ab Specialty Silicones LLC. Lead supervisory attorney managing investigation and litigation as to May 2019 explosion of a chemical plant in Waukegan, Illinois which resulted in four fatalities and extensive structural damage to numerous neighboring facilities. Spearheaded issuance of $1.6 million in citations against company.
Secretary v. JBS Green Bay. Lead supervisory attorney spearheading issuance and litigation of OSHA COVID general duty clause citation against large meatpacking company and achieved settlement and nationwide abatement measures.
Secretary v. Dr. Steven Devore Best, The Neuroscience Center LLC, et al, 18-CV-03002, United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois (ERISA injunction and $418,000 restored to defined benefit pension plan, appointment of independent fiduciary).
Secretary v. Roger Tam et al. (Kim’s of Novi, Inc.), United States District Court Eastern District of Michigan, 17-CV-10837 and 16-CR-20118 (criminal conviction, FLSA injunction and $173,000 in back wages and liquidated damages as restitution).
Secretary v. CSP, Inc. et al., United States District Court Western District of Michigan, 17-CV-748 and 16-CR-241, (criminal conviction and $150,000 in back wages and liquidated damages as restitution).
Secretary v. All Temporaries Midwest, United States District Court, District of Minnesota, Case No. 17-CV-3330, (FLSA injunction and $250,000 in back wages and liquidated damages).
Secretary v. Cable Equipment Service, Inc., United States District Court District of Minnesota, 15-CV-416, (FLSA injunction and $350,000 in back wages and liquidated damages in misclassification case regarding cable equipment providers).
Administrator v. Total Enterprises, Office of Administrative Law Judges, Case No. 2010-SCA-00004, ($1.3 million in back wages under the Service Contract Act against transportation company at O'Hare Airport).
Publications:
Freedom From Fear: Prosecuting the Iraqi Regime for the Use of Chemical Weapons, 16 St. Thomas L. Rev. 365 (2004).
Note: Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, Secretary of Transportation: The Armageddon of Affirmative Action, 46 DePaul L. Rev. 611 (1997).
Presentations:
Adjunct Professor of Law, Northwestern University College of Law,
Introduction to Trial Advocacy, September 2011 – 2019.
Instructor, 2021 SOL Regional Conference, Storytelling in Practice
Panelist 2020 ABA Occupational Safety & Health Law Committee, Palm Springs, CA, “OSHA in Practice: Mock Cross Examination.”
Instructor, Legal Aspects, OSHA Training Institute, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 2010-2014, 2017; Combustible Dust, February 2017.
Panelist 2016 OSHA Counsel’s Conference, Washington D.C.
Panelist 2012 SOL Regional Conference, “Navigating Rule 4.2”
Instructor 2014 SOL Regional Conference, “Direct and Cross-Examination”
“Recent DOL Initiatives,” presented to the Chicago Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division, Labor and Employment Committee, January 27, 2011.
