Kristen Smith, Esq.

Kristen Smith, Esq. is a Labor and Employment Law attorney at Bond Schoeneck & King, PLLC.  Kristen works with employers, large and small, to help ensure compliance with the complex maze of labor and employment laws. She provides practical, tailored advice to help clients avert costly and damaging employment-related claims. Kristen’s prior experience working in human resource management with several large corporations (including Exelon and Bose) gives her a unique and helpful perspective into the day-to-day realities of being an employer. She merges this practical knowledge with her legal experience to provide each client with a realistic, pragmatic approach to solving employment law challenges. For example, Kristen helps employers solve confusing employee accommodation and leave issues, conducts wage and hour and employment policy audits, and assists in the implementation of reductions in force. In addition, when employers, despite their best compliance efforts, are faced with employment-related claims, Kristen defends these claims.

Kristen is an experienced employment litigator, defending employers before the New York State Division of Human Rights, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the New York State Department of Labor, Unemployment Insurance Division. She also defends employment-related lawsuits filed in state and federal court, and has successfully defended multiple suits before the Second Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals.

Kristen works with both non-union and union employers, and has experience in the arbitration of labor relations disputes and the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements. 

Kristen also serves on the Board of Directors of CNY SHRM as the Chapter Secretary.