MARTHA CLARKE is a managing associate in the Employment and Labor group in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on employment and labor law.
Martha litigates on behalf of clients before government agencies and in federal and state court, in both class and collective actions and in single-plaintiff cases. She has litigated matters involving an array of employment-related issues including discrimination, harassment, contract disputes, restrictive covenant issues, and wage and hour. Martha has experience drafting pleadings, discovery requests and responses, dispositive motions, appellate briefs, and settlement agreements. She also has experience in fact development and discovery, including drafting and responding to written discovery, preparing fact witnesses for depositions, resolving various discovery disputes, and day-to-day case management. She has conducted direct and cross examinations of witnesses in court and done related witness preparation.
Martha counsels regularly on a range of employment matters. Martha has counseled on COVID-19 compliance and workplace-related issues, including serving as one of the Firm’s key subject matter advisors on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. She also drafts and negotiates employment-related agreements, including separation agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, and executive employment agreements.
Martha regularly advises clients in connection with employment and labor aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financings, and outsourcing matters.
Prior to joining Sidley, Martha served as a law clerk for the Honorable Sandra S. Ikuta of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Martha received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law, where she was a notes editor on the Northwestern Law Review. While at Northwestern, Martha worked as a student attorney at the MacArthur Justice Center and was a legal extern to the Honorable John Z. Lee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Martha received her B.A. in Government & Legal Studies and Spanish, cum laude, from Bowdoin College.