HARRISBURG, Pa. (April 19, 2023) — The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Commission on Women in the Profession (WIP) will present its annual Lynette Norton Award to Renee Mattei Montgomery of Eckert Seamans in Harrisburg, on May 4 at the WIP Annual Conference held during the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
The Norton Award was created in memory of Lynette Norton, a founding member of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession, who died in 2002. Norton was an advocate for young women in the legal profession and worked to promote literacy and women’s rights. The award is designed to recognize and encourage female attorneys who excel in litigation skills and who are devoted to mentoring female lawyers.
A labor and employment law lawyer at her firm since 2009, Montgomery focuses her practice on defending employers against discrimination claims under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. She also provides training to public- and private-sector clients in the areas of harassment and discrimination, employee wage and hour issues and FMLA compliance. In addition, she is the chair of her firm’s Associates Committee, which addresses issues pertaining to career development, compensation, firm culture, legal support and work/life balance. Part of her role includes mentoring junior lawyers about building their careers in large-firm settings, managing workloads and developing client relationships.
Some of her notable cases include successfully representing a national educational technical institute in an age discrimination/whistleblower lawsuit before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, a large multi-state insurer in state and federal court regarding disability discrimination and ERISA violation claims, and a municipality in a series of claims before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
Active in the PBA, Montgomery is a member and former co-chair of the WIP Executive Council, former mentor in the WIP Mentoring Program, member and former co-chair of the Large Law Firm Committee, member of the WIP Dobbs Ad Hoc Subcommittee and former member of the House of Delegates. In addition, she is an alumnus of the James S. Bowman American Inn of Courts.
A member of the Dauphin County Bar Association, Montgomery is a member and past president of its Board of Directors, chair of its Personnel Committee and former chair of its Young Lawyers Division.
Recognized for her work, Montgomery is a recipient of a PBA President’s Award and a Dauphin County Bar Association DIVA Award. She was also recognized as a YWCA of Greater Harrisburg Women of Excellence honoree and rated as AV Preeminent by the Martindale-Hubble Peer Review Ratings. She frequently lectures and publishes articles on employment law topics.
In her community, Montgomery volunteers for the Salvation Army Harrisburg WIN (Women INvolved), United Way of the Capital Region Women’s Leadership Network, Central Pennsylvania Food Bank Board of Directors and Girl Scouts in the Heart of Central Pennsylvania Strategy Committee.
Montgomery graduated magna cum laude with her J.D. from University of Pittsburgh School of Law and her B.A. from King’s College.
For more information on the WIP awards luncheon or the PBA Virtual Annual Meeting, visit https://www.pabar.org/pdf/2023/AnnualMeeting2023.pdf.