Seema Patel

Attorney in the Division of Fair Labor Standards, Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor

Seema Patel is an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. Prior to federal service, she advised the Mayor and City of Oakland on matters related to the American Recovery and Reinstatement Act of 2009. After graduating from U.C. Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall), Seema clerked for the Honorable Andre M. Davis, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland (currently, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit), and the Honorable Harry Pregerson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Seema then moved to Gujarat to work with Manav Sadhna, an NGO, where she organized female slum-dwelling “ragpickers” (trash collectors) into a cooperative society, and advocated on their behalf for state recognition and benefits.

While at Boalt Hall, Seema worked in the Community Economic Justice Unit at East Bay Community Law Center. She served as co-Editor-in-Chief of the Asian American Law Journal, Diversity Editor of the California Law Review, Symposium Editor for the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law and President of the South Asian Law Students’ Association. She was awarded Boalt Hall’s “Best Brief” award, and Seema’s team won first place in “Excellence in Appellate Advocacy” at a California statewide moot court competition. Her interests include community organizing, labor law, immigrant workers’ rights, immigration and appellate litigation. Prior to law school, Seema organized South Asian immigrant laundry workers on the east coast, and volunteered with Manav Sadhna in Gujarat.