Mary Smigielski’s time as of counsel at Morgan Lewis was excellent preparation for her current role overseeing employment and labor matters for Sears Holdings (SHC), one of the Top 20 U.S.-based employers, according to the Wall Street Journal. Mary provides employment counsel to Kmart Corporation with its 100,000 employees and a broad range of SHC business units, including the Craftsman and Kenmore brands carried by the retailer. Her practice covers the continental United States and operations off shore, such as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

Mary said there was a benefit to transitioning into corporate work later in her career than is traditional. “At Morgan Lewis, I managed teams of lawyers in offices across the country handling high-pressure cases. There was a significant downside if we weren’t successful,” she said. “I learned precisely the challenges of outside counsel and how to strategize what can or cannot be done. Everything my outside counsel is doing, I’ve already done.”

This inside knowledge made for a close working partnership with Morgan Lewis partner Betsy Perdue and other current Morgan Lewis lawyers in a major transaction that saw SHC spun off about 1,200 hometown, outlet, and hardware store locations with sales of $2.3 billion.

“A company with thousands of hourly employees presents significant challenges,” said Mary, who handles wage and hour class actions in addition to individual cases as part of her litigation docket. “Wage and hour laws are always a challenge, particularly as they evolve on a state and local level.”

She says the retail marketplace is changing very rapidly, primarily because of e-commerce and social media. The company’s “Shop Your Way” program has tens of millions of members with a growing audience on social media platforms. “Social networks are the drivers behind the shopping habits of customers,” she said. On Twitter and Facebook the program has more than 12,400 and 106,000 followers, respectively.

Outside the office, Mary is involved with various organizations including a professional group called First Chair, which includes lawyers in private practice and in-house counsel. “It’s a great organization for networking and gaining a perspective on what other lawyers are doing,” she said. In 2012, her First Chair peers voted her Top Employment Counsel and in 2014, she was honored with the Top Assistant General Counsel award. The award recognizes lawyers who “through their hard work and innovation, made significant contributions to the legal community.”

Mary is also a working mom with two children, 8-year-old Dillon and 10-year-old Sabrina. “Despite a very fast paced environment, I have the flexibility to be involved in their activities. My boss is incredibly supportive of being able to have a family life.”

She is in touch with other Morgan Lewis alumni, including former Labor and Employment partner Michael Curley. “It’s an incredibly useful network. I worked with so many talented people at Morgan Lewis and continue to stay connected with them now,” Mary said.