His ability to impact issues of fairness is what entices Stanley Pitts to practice labor law, whether he’s representing employers or employees.
The 1981 Wayne State University Law School graduate worked for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for 20 years, until 2005, when he joined Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn. He’s a partner in the firm and a member of its board of directors. He concentrates his practice on defending and counseling employers.
Was it hard to go from representing employees to employers?
“For me, it was not difficult,” Pitts said. “As a litigator, I know there are cases that have merit for the employer and those that are meritorious for the employee. Once on the management side, I looked for how the employer treated the employee and whether there was fairness in the disciplinary and/or adverse employment decisional process. I now also look to determine if the employee is meeting the fair expectations of the employer. If not, I have no problem defending an employer’s employment decision.
“Conversely, if there is a bad apple in management, I am now in a position to influence the type of remedial action to be taken against that individual.”
As an undergraduate attending Wayne State, where he earned a degree in accounting, Pitts also worked full time at Ford Motor Co. doing factory production.
“My attraction to labor law was due to this experience, which focused my interest on employee fairness issues, wage and hour issues, wrongful discipline and termination issues, and union representation issues,” he said.
At first, he considered furthering his education by getting an M.B.A. in finance or accounting. Then, one day he happened to pick up a contract casebook his sister, Sharron Pitts (Wayne Law class of 1980), had left on a table at home. She was in her first year of law school.
“After spending hours reading about very interesting – at least to me – legal problems and how various legal theories were used to resolve those problems, I knew law school was the place for me,” he said.
Pitts said he had enjoyed his undergraduate studies at Wayne and knew the school’s reputation for “training great lawyers,” so his choice of where to study law was an easy one.
After graduation from Wayne Law, he worked for Patmon and Young PC and then for Lewis & Munday before joining the EEOC in 1984 as a trial attorney. He was promoted to supervisory trial attorney three years later. In 1997, Pitts was honored with the EEOC Chairman’s Organizational Performance Award.
Since joining Honigman, he’s been named to Michigan Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America. And in 2014, he was honored as one of The Michigan Chronicle’s Men of Excellence. That award especially means a lot to him.
“It was an honor to be recognized among so many accomplished individuals for the sacrifices I have made to develop and improve myself as a professional,” Pitts said. “To be recognized as a leader to others touched me greatly. I firmly believe that as a leader, you have a huge responsibility to be an example to others who try to emulate your behavior and accomplishments.”
Pitts, who lives in Bloomfield Hills, is a member and past chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s Professional Ethics Committee and a member of its Attorney Discipline Board Hearing Panel. He also is a case evaluator for the Wayne County Mediation Tribunal Labor Panel.
Community service is important to Pitts, who is a member of the City Year Detroit Board of Directors to help at-risk students and served on the Black United Fund of Michigan Inc. Board of Directors from 2009 to 2015. He also has served as a volunteer attorney with the Ask a Lawyer program for the city of Southfield and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
“For me, giving back and helping others feels good,” Pitts said. “You know right away through smiles and words of gratitude that others appreciate your help, but you don’t know how big of an impact you may have on an individual until years later. While you many have forgotten what you did in the past, someone you helped will tell you how much of an impact your assistance made on their lives. This is when you know for sure that the community service or pro bono work you have done has value beyond dollars.”
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