Bert H. Ware is of counsel in the Boston, Massachusetts, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. His practice focuses on representing employers in workplace law matters, including preventive advice and counseling. Bert has extensive experience as in-house and outside counsel in delivering strategic and tactical advice, counseling, and guidance to C-Suite and other senior executives, HR professionals, and staff support function executives concerning a very broad range of employment-related issues.
Bert’s in-house and private practice experience includes the portfolio-based and single matter-defense of single- and multi-party employment-related litigation in federal and state courts, before federal and state fair employment practice agencies, including EEOC, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, and more than a dozen other state and federal agencies, as well as before AAA and FINRA arbitral panels, related conciliations, settlement and resolution negotiations, and mediations.
Bert has substantial practical in-house experience in designing and implementing enterprise-wide or business unit-specific on-boarding, senior executive contract negotiation, design, drafting, and execution, and background screening programs in coordination with sourcing and internal staffing teams, and corporate security organizations for existing business structures as well as in the context of M&A acquisitions and integrations. Bert’s experience extends to senior executive performance management issues, the design and implementation of employee retention and goal achievement strategies during spin-offs, divestitures, or wind downs, off-boarding, RIFs, separation agreements, proactive protection, support of cyber-forensic review, and recapture of intellectual property, related strategies, negotiations and execution.
In addition, his practice focuses on crisis and reputational risk management, employment law, problem solving, legal risk avoidance and mitigation, including application of effective, easily understood, and practical risk management and quantitative risk triage approaches to employee relations and employment litigation risk management in coordinating defense strategies, responses, and matter resolution. As a part of Jackson Lewis’ Corporate Governance & Internal Investigations practice group, Bert works with clients on both neutral third-party independent and client-directed internal investigations of alleged misconduct related to discrimination, bullying, harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation, threats of violence, and unprofessional workplace conduct issues.
He also assists clients as a part of Jackson Lewis’ Workplace Training practice group with regard to training, and policy and procedure development.
Bert assists clients as a part of Jackson Lewis’ Corporate Diversity Counseling practice group in diversity representation, complex civil rights reviews and employment law audits, as well as dispute resolution, investigations and the defense of class action lawsuits involving allegations of race-, gender-, and age-based discrimination and harassment law.
In addition, Bert works closely with clients with regard to confidential litigation assessments, internal legal vulnerability assessments, and assists clients in developing “best practice”, benchmarking, and diversity enhancement action plans.
Pro Bono and Community Involvement
•Acton Boxborough Community Education, Volunteer High School Boys’ Basketball Referee
•Concord Academy, Past Chair - Parents’ Committee on Community & Equity, Committee Member
Blogs
Bert H. Ware Blog Posts
Corporate Compliance & White Collar Advisor
Congress Considers Proposed Protections for Intelligence Community Whistleblowers
February 28, 2020
