Monica H. Khetarpal

Biography

Monica H. Khetarpal is a principal in the Chicago, Illinois, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She is an experienced litigator and advisor, providing skilled advocacy and thoughtful advice, training, and strategic planning for her clients.

Her litigation experience includes cases involving claims for discrimination, harassment, wage and hour violations, FMLA violations, disability discrimination and requests for accommodation in both single plaintiff and class action matters. She regularly handles matters at all levels, from administrative agencies to jury trials to appeals in both state and federal courts. She also counsels clients through the mediation process, and provides advice regarding best practices to avoid litigation. Monica's advice and counsel practice focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion matters. She regularly conducts investigations and climate surveys, advises as to strategic DEI initiatives, and provides training in the areas of unconscious bias, inclusion, and equity.

Monica focuses a significant portion of her practice on representing higher education clients and serves as co-leader of Jackson Lewis' Higher Education industry group. The group focuses on solving workplace law and other civil rights challenges facing higher education institutions. It represents both public and private universities in a range of matters including tenure cases, Title IX claims, strategic investigations, student claims, constitutional and state statutory issues and traditional labor matters. Monica has represented educational institutions throughout her career. She has experience defending denial of tenure cases, providing advice and counsel regarding high profile faculty and student matters, revising strategic policies and procedures, and conducting internal investigations and climate surveys. She has partnered with her clients in managing the student, faculty and media issues unique to the higher education setting.

Monica also devotes a significant amount of time to encouraging diversity, equity and inclusion within the legal profession. She is a co-leader of Jackson Lewis' Asian American resource group and both D&I liaison and mentoring coordinator for the firm's Chicago office. She has also served on the Board of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago, SABA's Foundation, and the Diversity Scholarship Foundation's Unity Dinner planning committee. She was the 2018 recipient of the Advocate for Diversity Award from Chicago's Diversity Scholarship Foundation. Monica also frequently speaks on topics related to women in the law and successful work-life balance, and founded the Chicago chapter of the firm's Practicing and Parenting group to support attorneys who balance their legal practice with raising children.

Published Works

• “Survey of Illinois Law: Employment Law,” Southern Illinois University Law Journal (Summer 2006) [Co-Author]
• “Jurors’ Perceptions of Gender-Based Linguistic Differences,” William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law (Fall 2003) [Author]

Speeches

• "Race Neutral Strategies for Employment/Faculty Diversity," NACUA Workshop (September 2020)
• "COVID Liability Concerns and Risk Mitigation Strategies,"   NACUA’s Virtual Winter 2021 CLE Workshop: COVID, Culture & Climate: Responding to a Challenging Campus Environment (February 3-5, 2021)
• "2019 Annual Conference – Unconscious Bias: Tackling the Biggest Stumbling Blocks to Diversity and Inclusion," Association of Corporate Counsel
• "2018 Quick Hit: Employment Law Year in Review," Association of Corporate Counsel (January 2019)
• "Roundtable Discussion – Key Employment Issues: When Trouble Arises," Association of Corporate Counsel (March 2019)
• "Roundtable Discussion – Key Employment Issues: When Trouble Arises," Association of Corporate Counsel (March 2019)
• "2018 Annual Conference – Employment & Labor Law: A Primer for New In-House Practitioners," Association of Corporate Counsel
• "TimesUp and Gender Equity Movements Come to Campus: Is Your Institution Ready," Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities – HR Conference (2018)
• "2017: Title IX Update: What Now?" Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities – HR Conference (2017)
• "Ethical Quandaries for In-House Counsel," South Asian Bar Association: (2016)
• "Hot Topics at the EEOC – And How to Stay Out of the Crosshairs," (2015)
• "Creative Approaches to Work/Life Balance: How to Not Just Survive but Thrive on an Alternative Work Schedule," South Asian Bar Association (2015)
• "How to Make Arbitration Agreements Work for You," NAWL (2015)