Employment Law, Wage and Hour Litigation Rachhana T. Srey is a Partner at Nichols Kaster, PLLP who has extensive litigation experience, primarily dedicating her legal practice to national wage and hour complex class and collective action employment litigation. She has been a zealous advocate for thousands of employees over her 14-year career, representing a wide variety of workers in many industries including those who work in healthcare, insurance, financial services, communications, retail, manufacturing, and security industries as well as federal sector employees. Rachhana’s exceptional case management and advocacy skills, dedication to her clients, strong work ethic and outgoing personality have earned her the respect of her clients and of her colleagues in the legal community. Rachhana has tried several wage and hour cases, most notably obtaining a jury verdict that was upheld by the Sixth Circuit in favor of a group of nearly three hundred cable installers. In addition to her wage and hour practice, Rachhana is also currently litigating a large age discrimination class case venued at the EEOC. She is active in several organizations, holding leadership positions in a few. Rachhana is currently the Co-Chair of the National Employment Lawyer Association's (“NELA”) Wage & Hour Committee and Practice Group and the Co-Chair of the Association of Justice's (“AAJ”) Wage & Hour Litigation Group. She is also an active Board Member of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. Rachhana is often invited to speak nationally and locally on a wide range of topics including class and collective action litigation strategies, wage and hour litigation, discovery issues, recent developments in the law, and age and gender discrimination.

Mr. St. Amand maintains a boutique real estate law practice, representing developers, title insurance companies, homebuilders and institutional and individual real estate owners, on a range of mixed-use, condominium and planned development matters. Prior to starting his own law practice, Mr. St. Amand maintained a similarly focused law practice at the Charlotte office of the global law firm of K&L Gates, LLP. Mixed-use projects and projects involving common ownership and associations present unique challenges. Such projects may be subject to state and federal statutes, regulations, and case law, not generally applicable to other forms of real estate development and ownership. Mr. St. Amand draws upon his big-firm experience, and upon his knowledge and familiarity with legal and business considerations that are uniquely applicable to mixed-use projects, condominiums and planned communities, to provide high quality legal representation at a great value to the client.

Grace is a sole practitioner, which allows her to have direct and personal involvement with her clients. She started her career at the most prestigious “Big Firm” in the United States, gaining valuable and rewarding experience on one-of-a-kind transactions. But during her busy career, her grandmother passed away leaving her father, an only child, to handle the estate. It was a small estate; a house and a checking account–not that much different from most folks. For two years, Grace watched her dad spend his time traveling back and forth from the county courthouse, hiring experts, trying to transfer the title of his mother’s house into his own name, as next of kin. Why was this so difficult? Grace’s grandparents had invested in a Living Trust, but the Trust was not recognized as valid by the State of California. Apparently, the assets in the estate were not “delivered” correctly to the Trust, and the Trust paperwork could not be located. Therefore, Grace’s father had to Probate this “small” estate, just as if his mother had left no plans in place at all, as if she had left only a Will. Two years later, and after $26,000 in expenses, the State transferred the house into Grace’s father’s name. In this instance, everyone was in agreement over what was legally appropriate, and the probate went through relatively smoothly. Imagine how much it would have cost and how long it might have taken, if some of the parties were not in agreement! Grace wants to make a difference! She decided to specialize in Estate Planning in order to save others from her father’s predicament. Based on her skills and experience in real estate transactions and corporate matters, she is able to handle all areas of a client’s estate — especially those that involve real estate and businesses with partnership, LLC, corporate, and financial issues. She serves as a Comprehensive Wealth Manager to those clients who need more than just legal services. Grace enjoys unraveling the complicated and confusing processes of Probate, Trusts, and Estate Planning for her clients. She works with each client until the desired result is reached, and makes the process easy to understand. Her clients appreciate her empathetic nature and her experience in handling sensitive family issues, which are often emotionally difficult.

Michael J Stachowski has tried major and high-profile civil and criminal cases that include murder, drugs, DWI, divorce, and federal conspiracy cases. Michael J Stachowski has argued appeals before the appellate division of the court of appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. His appellate work has resulted in many criminal reversals, and our firm has expanded the federal standards to state courts in the area of lack of effective assistance of counsel. He earned his B.A. from Canisius College before attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he earned his J.D.