Shannon Liss-Riordan

Shannon Liss grew up in Meyerland, Texas.[3] She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 1990, after which she went to work for New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug.[4] An activist during the early 1990s and the feminist movement, Liss-Riordan co-founded the Third Wave Direct Action Coalition with writer Rebecca Walker[5][6] to "mobilize young women." [7] She was coordinator of a seminar at Hunter College in 1992, which featured lawyer Anita Hill and other feminist leaders.[8]

While a first-year student at Harvard Law School, in 1994 Liss organized an auction that featured a copy of the Constitution signed by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a copy of the Roe v. Wade decision signed by Justice Harry Blackmun and other items.[9] She also wrote a column in the law school newspaper.[10] In 1996,[1] Liss graduated from Harvard Law School.[11]

In 2009, Liss-Riordan co-founded the firm Lichten & Liss-Riordan, where she has filed suits against a number of tech companies in the "gig economy",[12] including FedEx,[13] Lyft, Uber[14] and Amazon.[15] Other suits were filed against GrubHub, Doordash, Square, Inc., Caviar, PostMates, Shyp, Washio, Handy, Homejoy, and InstaCart.[16][17] Many of these cases involved the question of whether the companies improperly classified their workers as independent contractors.[18][19] She has also filed labor suits alleging tips, fees, or wages were improperly taken from workers at restaurants,[20][21][22] strip clubs,[23][24] American Airlines,[25][26] and Starbucks.[27][28]

In 2015, the Wall Street Journal called her "one of the most influential—and controversial—figures in Silicon Valley."[11] Politico included her in 2016 on the "Politico 50" which is list of the people who are "transforming American politics."[29]

Liss-Riordan is best known for leading a class action case on behalf of Massachusetts and California drivers against ride-sharing company Uber, filed in 2013 and known as O'Connor v. Uber.[30][31] The case argued that Uber drivers were misclassified as independent contractors, which the company had done to avoid giving the drivers employer-sponsored benefits and insurance. In 2016, Liss-Riordan advocated for a controversial settlement estimated totaling up to $100 million; when nine different attorneys representing drivers argued against the deal, Liss-Riordan filed to reduce her firm's fee by $10 million for the proposed settlement.[32] About thirty drivers filed objections to the settlement or sought to remove Liss-Riordan as the leader of the class action lawsuits.[33] A final settlement for $20 million in 2019 covered 13,600 drivers, after an appeals court ruling reduced the class from the 385,000 drivers covered by Liss-Riordan's original filing.[34] She later defended her choice to settle the case, after some drivers were dissatisfied with still being classified as independent contractors.[35]