Bridget B. Romero

Bridget Romero’s practice is focused exclusively on employment and labor law. She regularly counsels business owners, HR professionals and in-house lawyers on a full range of matters, including performance management and HR best practices, employment and separation agreements, wage and hour/FLSA classifications, sick leave laws, drug testing policies and cutting-edge matters, including LGBTQ issues in the workplace and ban-the-box legislation. Bridget also drafts employee handbooks and offers cost-effective handbook update and training services, as well as workplace investigations.

Since 2014, Bridget has served as the firm’s Personnel Partner. In this role, she is responsible for developing preventive policies and procedures, as well as managing the firm’s employment issues as they arise. This perspective has further deepened Bridget’s understanding and compassion for the real-world issues facing her clients, making her an extremely valuable ally in developing their employment-related strategies. During the process of becoming individually ranked in the 2019 Chambers & Partners Missouri Labor & Employment category, Bridget's clients raved to Chambers: "She is very responsive and provides excellent counsel, not only from a legal perspective, but from a practical perspective as it relates to business needs. She is experienced, intuitive, and an excellent communicator."

Having served as the firm’s employment counsel, Bridget is extremely aware of the need to handle matters efficiently and cost-effectively. To save clients time and money, she has developed unique checklists and processes for handling employment issues. When prevention is not enough and legal issues arise, she seeks swift, pre-trial resolution to minimize the disruption to business operations and fees that clients often face in such situations.

When matters ultimately require trial, Bridget is extremely effective at fiercely and aggressively advocating for her clients’ positions. For example, on behalf of one of the country’s largest employers, on two separate occasions Bridget received complete defense verdicts on employment discrimination and retaliation claims brought by former employees where the jury deliberated for less than an hour.

Bridget has handled countless administrative charges of employment discrimination before the EEOC and state and local agencies, as well as unfair labor practices charges before the NLRB. Recently, Bridget was able to convince the EEOC that a matter the agency had “flagged” for possible litigation was meritless, and litigation by the EEOC was unwarranted after a protracted investigation conducted by the agency. 

In the immigration field, Bridget assists employers who wish to employ executives, managers, professionals, artists and skilled workers from abroad. Bridget’s achievements include receiving nonimmigrant and immigrant petition approvals on behalf of acclaimed ballet dancers, painters and physicians. She has filed countless H-1B, L and O-1 petitions, and she is also well-versed in the areas of employment eligibility verification (Form I-9 Compliance, E-Verify) and employment authorization under immigration law. Bridget has also helped shape revisions to state regulations regarding employment eligibility verification which conflicted with federal law on the topic.

Before going to law school, Bridget volunteered in Peru for two years and worked as a refugee resettlement case manager with refugees from Bosnia, Vietnam and Somalia. She is fluent in Spanish which allows her to serve clients in unique ways where Spanish is involved, from translation of key documents to witness interviews.

• Presenter, "Minimize Hiring Challenges by Staying in the Know," Annual Heartland Labor and Employment Institute, May 24, 2023
• Co-presenter, "Marijuana in the Workplace: Does the Missouri Constitutional Amendment Block Employers from Tackling this Issue?" Lathrop GPM 2023 State of Litigation: Draft Edition, April 12, 2023
• Co-presenter, "COVID-19 and the Workplace: The Latest Updates," 34th Annual Heartland Labor and Employment Law Institute, May 25, 2022
• Co-presenter, "Employment Law Update," Lathrop GPM 2022 Employment & Labor Law Seminar, April 12, 2022 (Kansas City); May 4, 2022 (Minneapolis)
• Co-presenter, "COVID Aftermath & Remote Work Issues," Lathrop GPM 2022 Employment & Labor Law Seminar, April 12, 2022 (Kansas City); May 4, 2022 (Minneapolis)
• Co-presenter, "HR Bootcamp: COVID and Beyond," 33rd Annual Heartland Labor and Employment Law Institute, May 26, 2021
• Co-presenter, "Prescription for HR Success," Employment Law Institute 32nd Annual Conference, September 30, 2020
• Speaker, "Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims in a Volatile Time," Johnson County Bar Association, City of Lenexa City Hall, November 8, 2018
• Speaker, "Navigating the Waters in the Wake of #MeToo," Infinitas Fall Business Forum, October 16, 2018
• Panel Moderator, "Agency Best Practices," 28^th Annual Heartland Labor & Employment Law Conference, May 26, 2016
• Program Chairperson and Moderator, "HR Strategies: A Lifeline for Uncertain Times," Heartland Labor & Employment Institute 26th Annual Conference, Overland Park, KS, May 2014
• Speaker, "Expansion of Employment Law by Regulatory Agencies," 23rd Annual Heartland Labor & Employment Law Conference, June 2, 2011
• Speaker, "Employment Law Update," 22nd Annual Heartland Labor & Employment Law Conference, June 3, 2010
• Speaker, "I-9, E-Verify & Immigration Law Updates," Human Resources Association of Central Missouri, June 9, 2009
• Speaker, "Immigration Compliance Webinar," Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, June 2, 2009
• Speaker, "2008 Conference on Immigration," Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, April 17, 2008

• Contributing Author, "Immigration Reform & Control Act, Ch. 11," Kansas Employment Law, 3^rd Edition (2016), Kansas Bar Association

• American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Section
• American Immigration Lawyers Association
• Heartland Labor and Employment Law Institute
• Kansas Bar Association
• The Missouri Bar

• Cristo Rey Kansas City, Executive Committee; Board of Trustees
• Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Centurions Class of 2013

• Named among "2019 NextGen Leaders" by the Kansas City Business Journal, 2019
• Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Missouri Labor & Employment, 2019-2023
• Selected among The Best Lawyers in America®, 2019-2024
• Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, 2018-2022
  • "Rising Stars," 2011-2015
• Chambers USA, Missouri Labor & Employment, 2018, Recognized Practitioner
• Selected for KC Business "Rising Stars," 2014
• KC Chamber of Commerce Centurions Class of 2013
• Managing Editor, Missouri Environmental Law & Policy Review