Featured Speaker

Cara J Ottenweller

Cara J. Ottenweller is a Shareholder at Vedder Price and a member of the firm’s Labor and Employment group in the Chicago office.

Ms. Ottenweller has successfully represented and defended employers in a variety of traditional labor and employment law matters, including federal and state litigation, and administrative proceedings before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Department of Labor, and other federal, state and local agencies. Ms. Ottenweller regularly counsels and advises clients on a broad range of day-to-day human resources and employment issues such as EEO compliance, antidiscrimination laws, employee discipline and discharge, wage-and-hour issues, FMLA and leaves of absence, ADA compliance, reductions in force and restrictive covenants. She also assists employers in the development of employment handbooks, policies and procedures, and she has provided various training for employers and their staff, including antiharassment and nondiscrimination training, leave-of-absence training, and training related to employee privacy issues. She has experience advising and representing clients during various collective bargaining matters, including grievance and arbitration proceedings. Ms. Ottenweller offers clients creative and strategic solutions for a wide variety of employment law and compliance issues.

In 2002, Ms. Ottenweller earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Indiana University. She received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Valparaiso University School of Law in 2007.

Ms. Ottenweller was selected for inclusion as an Illinois Rising Star by Super Lawyers from 2014 to 2017. She also was selected as an Emerging Lawyer, an affiliate of Leading Lawyers, from 2015 to 2019.