LAUREN I SCHOLNICK portrait
  • Adjunct Professor, College Of Law - Dean
  • Adjunct Professor, College Of Law

Biography

Lauren worked for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (“AFSCME”) as its Legislative Director in the Illinois capitol and later attended law school. During her first year at the University of Illinois College of Law, Lauren proved that she was not afraid to fight for workers’ rights even if it required her to face down her law school professors, organizing the law school clerical staff. She later moved to Utah to clerk for Utah Court of Appeals Judge Gregory K. Orme. She worked for Utah Legal Services, creating and spearheading the “And Justice For All” campaign, a collaborative fundraising effort for civil legal services for the disenfranchised.

She returned to her roots “working for working people” by practicing employment law with a medium-sized Utah firm before she and her partner opened Strindberg & Scholnick, LLC (www.utahjobjustice.com), a boutique firm specializing in labor and employment law on behalf of employees in Utah and Idaho. Instead of implementing large-scale reforms via legislation or union activism, Lauren’s practice has focused on reforming the law through individual and multi-plaintiff employment cases.  She has been the driving force behind numerous decisions and jury verdicts.  A few of her more notable achievements include:

  • Successfully appealing an important racial harassment case resulting in a published appeals decision that contains numerous favorable holdings for employees facing a hostile work environment.  Tademy v. Union Pacific Corp., 520 F.3d 1149 (10th Cir. 2008).      
  • Obtaining Utah’s largest Title VII jury verdict ($2,500,000 for emotional distress) for her client who had been raped by her supervisor. Parker v. Olympus Healthcare Center, 2:00 CV-626 (D. Utah 2002).          
  • Establishing that a cause of action for wrongful termination exists for Utah employees who are discharged from their employment in retaliation for filing workers’ compensation claims.  Touchard v. La-Z-Boy, Inc., 148 P.3d 945 (Utah 2006).          
  • Establishing that employees must be paid for pre-shift activities when those activities are required for the job.  Land, et al. v. EG&G, Case No. 2:04-CV-00479, Order on Partial Summary Judgment (Benson, J., D. Utah, March 26, 2007).         
  • Making clear that police detention of witnesses without probable cause or consent violates the Fourth Amendment.  Walker v. City of Orem, 451 F.3d 1139 (10th Cir. 2007).