Naomi Frisch '18 receives 2017 Sandra P. Zemm Prize

Naomi Frisch '18 is the recipient of the 2017 Sandra P. Zemm Labor Law Prize. The prize was established in 2009 at Chicago-Kent College of Law by the law firm of Seyfarth Shaw LLP to honor the memory of Sandra P. Zemm, who died in September 2008 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Zemm Prize winners receive $1,000 along with the award.

Frisch will graduate in December 2017 with a J.D. degree and a joint certificate in Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution and Labor and Employment Law. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in oboe performance from Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree in oboe performance from DePaul University. Frisch was a Fulbright Scholar at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, Germany, from 1999 to 2000.

This summer, Frisch is a PILI intern, working in the Immigrant and Workers' Rights Division at the Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago. She was an extern in spring 2017 at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Alternative Dispute Resolution Unit in Chicago. She clerked at the Prinz Law Firm from January through April 2017 and previously clerked at Asher, Gittler & D'Alba, Ltd. Frisch interned at the Chicago Federation of Musicians in summer 2015.

At Chicago-Kent, she was a member of the law review, a student editor of the Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal and of the Illinois Public Employee Relations Report, and a volunteer with the Self-Help Web Center at the Daley Center. She is also an executive board member of the Regional Orchestra Players' Association, which advocates for and provides bargaining education to union musicians.

The Sandra P. Zemm Labor Law Prize is awarded annually to a third-year Chicago-Kent student in the Labor and Employment Law Certificate Program who exemplifies the qualities that Ms. Zemm possessed: "a commitment to pursue a career in labor and employment law, a pioneer spirit and willingness to take the initiative whenever possible, and a gracious and generous attitude toward helping those in need," according to Seyfarth Shaw.

A Chicago native, Sandra P. Zemm earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois. She received her J.D. from Florida State University, where she served as managing editor of the law review.

She joined Seyfarth Shaw in 1975 as the first female associate in the Labor and Employment Practice. In 1982, she became the firm's first female equity partner in Labor and Employment. Her practice concentrated on traditional labor matters, and on matters involving employment discrimination, wage-hour, and employment litigation. She negotiated collective bargaining and/or shutdown agreements with major labor unions, and represented management in more than 200 hearings before arbitrators, the National Labor Relations Board and various state labor agencies. In 2002, Ms. Zemm was elected to the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Seyfarth Shaw has more than 900 attorneys located throughout the United States, as well as internationally in London, Shanghai, Melbourne and Sydney. The firm provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation, corporate, and real estate.

Founded in 1888, Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, also known as Illinois Tech, a private, technology-focused, research university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, architecture, business, design, human sciences, applied technology, and law.