Women in Law 2025

2025

LORI DEEM SHAREHOLDER Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym Ltd

L ori L. Deem is a Shareholder with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd. (HSPRD), a multi-practice Chicago firm with a 40- year track record of providing first-rate client service, and a sophisticated approach to complex cases. Lori received her law degree from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law in 1998, where she was an Editor of the law review and received the Loyola Law Distinguished Service award upon graduation. After working for a solo-practitioner and then a five- attorney employment law boutique, in 2014, Lori founded the Chicago office of Outten & Golden, LLP, a prestigious employee-side employment law firm based in New York, NY. She joined HSPRD in March 2020. During her 27 years as an employment attorney, Lori has represented executives and individuals in a wide variety of employment law matters, including severance and employment agreement negotiations, employment discrimination claims and retaliatory discharge cases. Lori has extensive experience representing C-Suite and senior executives in job transition and change-of-control situations with drafting and negotiating severance and employment agreements, as well as restrictive covenant agreements, and other executive matters such as shareholder and partnership agreements. She advises executive clients on equity and compensation issues involving long-term and short-term incentive plans, stock options, restricted stock unit agreements and other complex equity arrangements. Clients have frequently praised Lori for her passionate advocacy, strategic counseling and pragmatic problem solving.

In 2025, Lori was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, a non-profit professional association honoring distinguished labor and employment lawyers nationwide. Since 2012, she has been recognized each year as a top employment attorney by Illinois Super Lawyers and Leading Lawyers , including being named to the list of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Illinois (among all practice areas) each year since 2022, and the Top 100 Lawyers in Illinois (among all practice areas) in 2025. Lori has also been recognized multiple years by The Best Lawyers in America and LawDragon as one of the top 500 plaintiff’s employment attorneys in the U.S. Lori currently serves as an Employee Council member for the American Bar Association (ABA) Labor & Employment Law (LEL) Section, and as the Employee Co-Chair Emeritas of the ABA LEL 19th Annual Section Conference. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the International Forum of Senior Executive Advisors (IFSEA), an international employment law forum held each year in London, UK. Lori is a past Employee Co-Chair and member of the Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee (ERR) of the ABA LEL Section, and a current member of the National Employment Lawyer’s Association (NELA), and the Chicago Bar Association (CBA). Lori is a frequent speaker and writer on a variety of employment law topics, including most recently: multi-generational workforce challenges and best practices; AI developments in workplace investigations; neurodiversity awareness and solutions; and managing executive health in times of trauma. Lori lives in Old Town and enjoys traveling and spending time with her family and friends.

WOMEN IN LAW 2025