Sheryl J. Willert

Sheryl Willert is a Member in the Seattle office of Williams Kastner, where she chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group and leads its Diversity Committee. She previously served as the firm’s Managing Director from 1996–2001 and again from 2006–2013, and she continues to serve on the firm’s board of directors.

Sheryl’s legal practice focuses on counseling, investigations, and dispute resolution across a broad spectrum of employment law matters. She advises unionized and non-union employers in both public and private sectors and is recognized nationally for her work on issues such as employment discrimination, implicit bias, workplace compliance, and data privacy. She has earned an AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell—the highest peer-review rating available—for over 25 years and has been consistently recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® since 1997.

Her experience also includes complex commercial litigation, product liability defense, and medical negligence matters. In addition to her litigation and advisory work, Sheryl provides legal counsel to professional athletes and nonprofit organizations, including her long-standing relationship with the Puget Sound Pilots and her support of the Russell Wilson Why Not You Foundation.

Sheryl has received numerous honors for her contributions to the legal profession and the community. She was named a “Woman of Influence” by the Puget Sound Business Journal and was honored as one of the Women of Power in Law by the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation. She is also a recipient of the Loren Miller Bar Association’s Pioneering Woman Award and was listed in On Being A Black Lawyer’s Power 100. In 2013, USLAW Network presented her with the O’Hagan Award for service and leadership, and in 2014, she received the Washington Most Powerful and Influential Women Award from the National Diversity Council.

Sheryl was the first woman and first African-American to serve as president of DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar, the country’s largest organization of civil defense attorneys. In recognition of her lasting impact, DRI renamed its Pioneer Diversity Award in her honor—the Sheryl J. Willert Pioneer Diversity Award—which is presented annually to an attorney demonstrating exceptional commitment to advancing diversity in the legal profession.