Ms. Bireda joined Sanford Heisler Sharp after three years as a member of the senior political staff at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC.
I wanted to thank in particular Saba for her unwavering focus, patience, diligence and legal acumen. Excellent job…really well done. Many thanks to both her and Gabi Weldon for hanging in there with me. They are perfectionists and the result speaks for itself. And, of course, thanks to David Sanford for providing the strong foundation/strategy and for matching me with his team! Wow! I am still smiling with happiness from the result! I finally am sleeping at night and a huge burden has been lifted. Thank you... It means everything to me… I couldn’t be happier. A Female Television Executive
Saba Bireda is a Partner in the Washington, DC office of Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP, a national law firm with offices in Washington, DC, New York, California, Tennessee, and Maryland. She received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and her law degree from Harvard. Ms. Bireda represents employees in individual and class actions involving race, gender, and pregnancy discrimination.
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Ms. Bireda joined Sanford Heisler Sharp after three years as a member of the senior political staff at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC, including two years as Senior Counsel in the Office for Civil Rights. Her experience includes service as a policy and legal advisor at Educational Counsel, LLC, as Deputy Director of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, and as an Education Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress. Saba was also a Philadelphia Bar Foundation Fellow, working both as a Litigation Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP and as a Staff Attorney at the Education Law Center in Philadelphia.
Ms. Bireda has written and spoken on a variety of topics related to civil rights and education. In May 2016, she was appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser to serve a three-year term on the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board.
While at Harvard, Ms. Bireda was an Executive Articles Editor of the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and a Teaching Fellow for Professor Lani Guinier. As part of Harvard’s Trauma and Learning Policy clinic, Ms. Bireda successfully defended the rights of special education students in due process and discipline hearings. She also completed Harvard’s Trial Advocacy Workshop and represented defendants in criminal proceedings as a student attorney with the Criminal Justice Institute.
Education
- J.D., Harvard Law School, 2007
- B.A., Stanford University, 2001
Clinics
- Trial Advocacy Workshop
- Criminal Justice Institute
- Trauma and Learning Policy
Bar Admissions
- Pennsylvania 2007
- District of Columbia
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. Supreme Court
Alexandria & Dickenson County, VA Opioid Epidemic Lawsuits
The City of Alexandria and Dickenson County, Virginia, represented by Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP, and The Cicala Law Firm PLLC became the first municipalities in the Commonwealth of Virginia to pursue legal action against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) for their role in creating the public health emergency caused by prescription opioids.
Washington County, VA Opioid Epidemic Lawsuit
Washington County filed the lawsuit in state court against more than 15 opioid manufacturers, distributors, and PBMs — including pharmaceutical titan Purdue Pharma and worldwide distributor McKesson.
Galax and Giles County, VA Opioid Epidemic Lawsuits
Galax and Giles County filed the lawsuits in state court against more than 15 opioid manufacturers, distributors, and PBMs — including pharmaceutical titan Purdue Pharma and worldwide distributor McKesson.
Page County, VA Opioid Epidemic Lawsuit
Page County filed the lawsuit in state court against more than 15 opioid manufacturers, distributors, and PBMs — including pharmaceutical titan Purdue Pharma and worldwide distributor McKesson.
Martinsville and Henry County, VA Opioid Epidemic Lawsuit
Martinsville and Henry County filed the lawsuit in state court against more than 15 opioid manufacturers, distributors, and PBMs — including pharmaceutical titan Purdue Pharma and worldwide distributor McKesson.
Lee County, VA and Norton Opioid Epidemic Lawsuit
Lee County and the City of Norton filed the lawsuit in state court against more than 15 opioid manufacturers, distributors, and PBMs — including pharmaceutical titan Purdue Pharma and worldwide distributor McKesson.
Montgomery County, VA Opioid Epidemic Lawsuit
Montgomery County filed the lawsuit in state court against more than 15 opioid manufacturers, distributors, and PBMs — including pharmaceutical titan Purdue Pharma and worldwide distributor McKesson.
Fauquier County, VA Opioid Epidemic Lawsuit
Fauquier County, Virginia, filed the lawsuit in state court against more than 15 opioid manufacturers, distributors, and PBMs.
Norton Rose Fulbright/Chadbourne & Parke LLP Gender Discrimination Class Action – $3.1 Million Settlement
According to Plaintiff Kerrie Campbell, a nationally recognized trial lawyer and partner in Chadbourne’s Washington, DC office, female partners at the firm are excluded from positions of decision-making authority and receive less pay and bonuses even when they out-perform their male counterparts. There is only a one-tier partnership, with every partner characterized as an equity partner.
KPMG Gender Pay, Promotion and Pregnancy Discrimination Class Action
In June 2011, Class Representative Donna Kassman filed a lawsuit against KPMG to remedy KPMG’s systemic discrimination in pay and promotion, discrimination based on pregnancy, and chronic failure to properly investigate and resolve complaints of discrimination and harassment. Later that same year, the lawsuit was amended to add Named Plaintiffs from around the country who had experienced discrimination similar to what Ms. Kassman had suffered.
Recent Development: New York City Prohibits Discrimination Based on Hair
Every few months, social media is set ablaze with reports of an African-American employee, usually a woman, told by her boss to change her hair or face disciplinary action or termination. For example, in January, Brittany Noble, a black female news anchor in Jackson, Mississippi, alleged that she was fired for wearing her natural hair […]
The EEOC’s #MeToo Moment
The EEOC first convened its Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace in 2015 and 2016. The Task Force issued a report and several recommendations aimed at employers and the EEOC itself. The Task Force’s 2016 report foreshadowed many of the issues that would later become central to the #MeToo conversation. […]
Supreme Court Rules Cities Can Sue Banks Over Racially Discriminatory Lending Practices
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bank of America v. City of Miami (decided the same day as a companion case, Wells Fargo & Co. et al. v. City of Miami, Florida) has been declared a mixed bag by many legal commentators. While the Court confirmed years of precedence in finding that cities, like […]
