Lea A.Weems

she/her/hers

Staff Attorney

Lea is dedicated to providing comprehensive factual and legal analysis in defending clients in employee benefits cases in state and federal courts across the country.


More About Lea

Employers, employee benefits plans, and insurers often face lawsuits regarding employee benefits. Clients appreciate that Lea is detail-oriented in her review of the facts, efficient in her legal research, and strategic and creative in her analysis of the legal arguments in each case.

Lea brings many years of litigation experience to her benefit plan litigation practice. She worked nearly a decade as a legal aid attorney, where she became highly skilled at juggling the demands of a high volume of clients with a variety of legal problems. Lea is thorough and efficient, and provides excellent research, legal analysis, and legal writing skills for clients.

Additionally, Lea clerked for Chief Justice Margaret Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, where she honed her research and writing skills after law school. She assisted the Chief Justice in all aspects of appellate practice. Lea prepared for oral arguments, reviewed trial records, and researched and wrote published opinions, including an employment discrimination case involving the medical peer-review privilege.

Lea also has insight into employers' needs from her experience with her family's lumber business in Arkansas, where her grandfather served as CEO for many years, and her mother served as vice president for human resources. This gives Lea a unique perspective on her current work litigating employee benefits cases.

Lea handles a high volume of cases, and often takes on complex matters involving significant briefing. She has experience in federal and state courts across the US, including both ERISA matters and non-ERISA matters involving various states' laws. Lea takes a deep dive into every new legal matter she comes across. She anticipates questions and proposes solutions to make the team of attorneys she works with more efficient.

Lea relishes tackling thorny legal matters for her clients. She enjoys learning the facts of new cases, figuring out the key legal issues, and analyzing the relevant legal authority. In doing this, Lea can better advise clients on the best litigation strategy for each case, given the nuances of the law and the jurisdiction.

  • JD, Harvard Law School

    Cum laude
    Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, managing editor
    Ames Moot Court Competition finalist
    Teaching assistant to Professor Lani Guinier

  • AB, Princeton University
    Comparative Literature, French and German

    Summa cum laude
    The Phi Beta Kappa Society

  • Illinois
  • US District Court, Northern District of Illinois

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