Stephen S. Zashin 
Commendations
College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
Fellow (2016)
OSBA Certified Specialist
in Labor and Employment Law
Best Lawyers (2014 – 2025)
Super Lawyers (2010 – 2025)
Top 100 Ohio Super Lawyers (2024)
Top 50 Cleveland Super Lawyers (2024 – 2025)
Super Lawyers "Rising Star" (2005 – 2007, 2009)
BTI Client Service All-Star (2015)
Stephen S. Zashin
About Stephen
Stephen Zashin founded the Employment and Labor Groups at Zashin & Rich in 1997 after working for a nationally known labor and employment law firm. He is now the firm’s Managing Partner.
Stephen counsels national publicly traded, private sector, and public sector employers concerning labor and employment matters and is an Ohio State Bar Association Certified Specialist in Labor and Employment law. He is one of the first 51 attorneys in Ohio to achieve certification in this legal specialty.
Stephen’s practice areas include the entire spectrum of both employment law and traditional labor law: labor relations, equal employment opportunity, employment discrimination, and unfair competition. Stephen defends individual, class, and collective actions in state and federal courts and before state and federal administrative agencies. He provides counsel on all matters of labor and employment compliance. In addition, Stephen advises employers on union organizing drives, negotiates collective bargaining agreements, and represents employers in grievance and arbitration proceedings. He regularly provides counsel to professional sports teams with respect to labor and employment matters and represents clients in the entertainment industry.
Stephen was selected as an Ohio Super Lawyers "Rising Star" for the years 2005-2009 and named as a Super Lawyer every year since 2010. Euromoney Legal Media Group has named Stephen as one of the top labor and employment attorneys in the United States, and he also is named in the elite lawyers rating guide “Best Lawyers in America.”
Stephen is a dynamic speaker and lectures frequently on timely employment and labor topics, including employment discrimination, mandatory arbitration agreements, employment practices liability insurance, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. He also has authored numerous articles concerning labor and employment matters and regularly appears as a legal commentator for media outlets seeking expert legal opinion and analysis.
Stephen graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School of Business. He earned his law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review. He also earned his M.B.A. from the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, where he received the Dean's Academic Achievement Award. In his free time, Stephen enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, playing golf, exercising, supporting all of Cleveland's sports teams, and playing guitar and singing with his band Faith & Whiskey.
Contact Stephen (ssz@zrlaw.com) at 216.696.4441 | Print Profile
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
– Steve Jobs
Memberships
- Ohio State Bar Association
Labor & Employment Law Section - Ohio Management Lawyers Association
- Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
- Labor & Employment Section Council’s Planning Committee for the Midwest Labor and Employment Law Conference (2017 – 2021)
Education
- Case Western Reserve University School of Law
J.D., Case Western Reserve Law Review Editor, 1995 - Case Western Reserve University,
Weatherhead School of Management
MBA, Dean's Academic Achievement Award, 1995 - University of Pennsylvania,
The Wharton School of Business
B.S., Finance and Organizational Behavior, Cum Laude, 1991
Admissions
- State: Ohio
- State: New York
- Federal: United States Supreme Court
- Federal: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- Federal: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- Federal: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- Federal: U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- Federal: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
- Federal: U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio
- Federal: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- Federal: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
- Federal: U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- Federal: U.S. District Court, Western District of New York
- Federal: U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Reported Cases
- Gembarski v. PartsSource, Inc., 157 Ohio St.3d 255, 2019-Ohio-3231, 134 N.E.3d 1175
- Wilson v. Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 2014 FED App. 0695N (6th Cir. 2014)
- Wilson v. Cleveland Clinic Foundation, No. 1:11 CV 1681, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11787 (N.D. Ohio Jan. 28, 2013)
- Lewis v. Cleveland Clinic Foundation, No. 1:12 CV 3003, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168836 (N.D. Ohio Nov. 27, 2012)
- Unger v. City of Mentor, No. 09-3180, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 14956 (6th Cir. 2010)
- State ex rel. City of Cleveland v. Sutula, 127 Ohio St. 3d 131, 2010-Ohio-5039 (Supreme Court of Ohio)
- Goodyear v. Waco Holdings, Inc., 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 91432, 2009-Ohio-619
- Vickers v. Fairfield Med. Ctr., 453 F.3d 757 (6th Cir.2006), cert. denied, 551 U.S. 1104 (2007)
- Langlois v. W.P. Hickman Syst., Inc., 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 86930, 2006-Ohio-3737, appeal not allowed, 112 Ohio St. 3d 1419 (2006)
- Bullick v. Sterling Inc., No. 03-6395, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21128 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 21, 2004)
Community
- IICF (Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation) (2016)
- CMBA Diversity & Inclusion Committee (2016)
- H.E.L.P. Malawi, Board of Directors