Lavinia Lee Mears, Partner
An accomplished attorney and former assistant prosecutor, Lavinia Mears joined Stein McGuire in 2009, practicing primarily in employment and labor law. She regularly represents employees, high level executives, and corporations in matters involving:
- wrongful discharge
- hostile work environment claims
- discrimination or retaliation
- sexual harassment
- arbitrations brought in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on behalf of financial advisors and brokers
- whistle-blowing claims including those brought on behalf of the government
- New Jersey Civil Rights Act claims
- appeals of unemployment compensation denials
- contract or severance negotiations and non-compete agreements
- unfair labor practice claims
- grievance and disciplinary matters
- public employment matters
- United States Postal cases
- individual and corporate defamation
Lavinia has served as a legal consultant to corporate and government entities who seek to minimize employee complaints and prevent employment litigation. She provides companies with independent and impartial investigations into employee complaints of unlawful conduct and in doing so helps companies ensure the objectivity of investigations and the successful defense of negligence claims. Additionally, she assists corporate clients by auditing employment policies, procedures and processes, reviewing and drafting employment handbooks and policies and providing management, employee and diversity training to create a work environment free of harassment and discrimination.
A former county assistant prosecutor and seasoned trial attorney, Lavinia represents clients in various civil and criminal matters including complex commercial litigation, consumer fraud actions as well as criminal, felony, misdemeanor, traffic and other municipal matters. She is also trained to serve as a court-appointed mediator and is an experienced negotiator, having served as a procurement attorney with AT&T, negotiating numerous contracts to acquire high-end technology goods and services, each of which exceeded $100,000,000.00.
Lavinia's writings have been published in numerous magazines and periodicals including the Practising Law Institute. Her work has been cited as authority by The Yale Law Journal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the Northwestern University Law Review and The Military Law Review. Lavinia also has assisted various authors in understanding trial procedure and criminal law.
Lavinia serves on the board of a number of prestigious professional women associations. She is the State Vice President of Public Policy and Legislative Affairs of New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners (NJAWBO). As NJAWBO'S legislative advocate, she has worked to advance the interests of the 290,000 women business owners in New Jersey. In 2008, Lavinia was named to the "NJAWBO 30," an elite group of 30 women business owners in the State of New Jersey. Lavinia is also the president of the Women Lawyers of Union County, a group for which she has served as Board Trustee and as Secretary of Community Relations.
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