Powerlist – Farrah N.W. Rifelj – Michael Best

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Farrah N.W. Rifelj views employment law as a partnership with her clients, providing them with proactive support to avoid litigation.

A partner with Michael Best and sub-practice leader of its affirmative action area, Rifelj said learning about her clients’ businesses is integral to success.

“I provide more value when I can combine knowledge of their business to an employment law question. I also enjoy the complexity of employment law, especially its breadth of subject area, such as leave law, wage and hour, restrictive covenants, non-discrimination and contracts, and origin, such as federal, state, and sometimes local, as well as administrative,” she said.

Rifelj was introduced to employment matters when she worked during high school and her college summers in a local company’s human resources department. That experience helped lay the groundwork to help understand her clients’ day-to-day experiences. As a summer associate with Michael Best, she worked with the practice’s employment law team.

“I had fantastic mentors, and rewording work. I was able to dig in immediately to evaluate, research, and solve employer’s questions,” she said. “I was hooked.”