Shahin Vafai

Shahin next joined a Columbia-based labor and employment law firm that exclusively represented management. In thirteen years at that firm, including ten years as a partner, he successfully defended employers in over 100 lawsuits—individual employment cases as well as class and collective actions seeking tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Cases involved Title VII discrimination and harassment, Title IX discrimination, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, state and federal constitutional issues, state wage and hour laws, breach of contract, wrongful discharge, defamation, university tenure and promotion issues, and others. Shahin has appeared in state and federal courts, including arguing multiple times before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 2013, Shahin was recruited to the position of senior legal advisor to the head of an international non-governmental organization with national branches in nearly 180 countries. In addition to personally handling complex matters, he supervised other attorneys and staff.

After a decade abroad, Shahin returned home to South Carolina. In representing employers, he draws on his richly diverse experiences—in state and federal courts, at the trial and appellate levels, in private practice and in-house, domestically and internationally.