Industries
Admissions
- Missouri
- Illinois
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois
Education
J.D., Saint Louis University School of Law, 2009
B.A., University of Alabama, 2003
Profile
Lauren Harris brings a strong background in litigation to her employment law practice. She has represented clients in a variety of industries, ranging from health care to non-profit organizations, in state and federal employment discrimination charges and lawsuits, professional malpractice actions and business contract disputes. Lauren has litigated and managed multifaceted cases with complex discovery issues and has extensive hearing experience. Among her successes is the defense of a health care employer in a Title VII gender discrimination action filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted summary judgment in favor of the employer, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, upheld that decision.
In addition to her litigation practice, Lauren guides her clients through the legal issues involved in employee recruiting, hiring, job classifications, promotions, transfers, demotions, discipline, and terminations. She conducts internal investigations for businesses when there are allegations of violations of the law, codes of conduct, or other policies that rise to the level of having an outside employment lawyer serve as the investigator.
Lauren writes and revises employee handbooks, restrictive covenants, separation agreements and other documents to ensure that her clients are fully protected under the law. She also assists employers with human resources and management training and day-to-day advice on a variety of employment issues. Lauren has helped several employers perform intensive human resources process and compliance audits and helped craft workable solutions that are compliant with the law and easy to navigate for employers.
Lauren has extensive experience working with public and private educational institutions and appreciates the nuances that come with the academic setting. Lauren assists with internal investigations involving potential violations of Title IX, Title VII, ADA 504, ethical and equal employment opportunity concerns. She also assists educational institutions with the day-to-day issues that arise when working with unionized workforces and defends her clients in disciplinary and termination grievance hearings.
Lauren serves on the firm’s Cortex Team, which supports entrepreneurs and the wider innovation community. She is passionate about helping small start-up businesses strategically grow and works closely with clients to anticipate and address the legal issues that come with that growth.
Professional Affiliations
- The Society for Human Resources of Greater St. Louis
- Arch Grants, annual competition judge and Greensfelder liaison
Community/Civic Activities
- Webster Hills United Methodist Church, Member of the Leadership Board, Staff Parish Liaison and Annual Pumpkin Patch Coordinator
- Mason Ridge Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization, Valentine’s Day Service Project Coordinator
- Cancer Support Community of Greater Saint Louis, past Young Advocates Group Annual Trivia Night co-chair
- The Lawyers Association of St. Louis, Missouri, Gridiron Show, 2013
Honors & Awards
Honors & Awards
- Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, Rising Star, Employment Litigation, 2014-19
News & Insights
News
- August 8, 2022
- June 7, 2022
- Society for Human Resource Management, January 14, 2019
- November 2018
- ENT Today, April 8, 2018
Seminars & Speaking Engagements
- Greensfelder's Employment Law Seminar, September 14, 2022
- "Top 7 Employment Considerations to Make Your Company Successful"Arch Grants, March 16, 2022
- "Independent Contractors in 2021...are they still a thing?"Arch Grants, March 16, 2021
- Arch Grants, April 15, 2020
- “Top 10 Employment Mistakes Startups Make”SixThirty, December 6, 2016
- New Challenges Facing Employers in 2016May 18, 2016
- "Why does employment law matter if my company doesn’t have employees?"TechArtista, St. Louis, March 9, 2016
Publications
Blog Posts
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , June 23, 2023
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 5, 2023
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 5, 2023
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 3, 2022
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 3, 2022
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , April 14, 2020
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , April 10, 2020
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , April 2, 2020
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , April 2, 2020
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , May 3, 2019
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , April 25, 2019
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , April 4, 2019
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 31, 2019
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 18, 2019
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 18, 2019
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , June 29, 2018
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , June 20, 2018
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , June 7, 2018
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , February 8, 2018
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , February 8, 2018
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 26, 2018
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , August 28, 2017
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , May 5, 2017
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , February 24, 2017
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 26, 2017
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , January 25, 2017
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , September 9, 2015
- SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog , June 1, 2015