LEAH GIDRON
Leah Gidron is Co-Founder and Partner of EquitAbility Consulting, LLC. Leah has spent over two decades helping employers address the vast array of issues that arise in the workplace and academia. As a former employment lawyer, she specialized in providing expert advice and practical solutions to sensitive and complex employment matters. She has handled hundreds of claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other areas of workplace misconduct. Throughout her career, Leah has developed training programs and policies to help employers minimize liability and create a culture of respect that enhances employee morale and retention. She has worked with all levels of employees and witnesses, including hourly employees, managers, executives, board members, students, and educators.
Prior to forming EquitAbility Consulting, Leah worked for many years as an employment lawyer, including at the law firms Franczek Sullivan and Littler Mendelson, and the Chicago office of DLA Piper. In addition to her legal experience, Leah worked at Northwestern University as a key member of its Office of Equal Opportunity & Access. During her time at Northwestern, Leah was responsible for investigating complaints of discrimination and harassment by staff, students, and faculty. She also conducted training seminars for employees, and helped administer the University’s employee disability accommodation policy and affirmative action plan.
Leah is certified as a Civil Rights Investigator with the Association of Title IX Administrators. She is also a trained mediator and implemented a mediation services program at Northwestern as a means of alternative dispute resolution for employees.
A native of the Chicago area, Leah earned her law degree from Northwestern University and her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Leah lives in Highland Park, Illinois, with her husband and children. In her free time, Leah likes to host dinner parties utilizing the skills she learned when she attended Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.
Leah may be reached at lgidron@
JOAN SLAVIN
Joan Slavin is Co-Founder and Partner of EquitAbility Consulting, LLC. Joan has extensive experience assisting employers in fairly and impartially addressing complaints of discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct and in helping them foster a respectful culture through effective prevention programming. Joan has discreetly investigated hundreds of sensitive allegations of sexual harassment at all levels within organizations. She has facilitated customized harassment prevention training for varied audiences, including professionals, physicians, tradespeople, faculty, office staff, and college students, and has trained numerous clients on best practices for conducting investigations. She also consults with clients in developing policies and procedures to support a harassment-free workplace. Joan also assists campuses by serving as a hearing officer, panel member, or party advisor in Title IX hearings.
Joan has over a decade of recent in-house experience serving as the Title IX Coordinator and lead sexual harassment investigator for both Northwestern University, where she was the Director of the Sexual Harassment Prevention Office, and Lake Forest College. In these roles, Joan investigated and adjudicated high-profile complaints of sexual misconduct involving faculty, staff, and students, supervised teams of junior investigators, drafted policies, and developed and conducted interactive harassment prevention training to foster safe and welcoming campuses. Earlier in her career, Joan practiced employment law with the Chicago offices of Sidley & Austin and Freeborn & Peters, helping businesses of all sizes respond to claims of discrimination and harassment and assisting them with policy development and discrimination prevention efforts.
Joan earned Advanced Title IX Coordinator certification from the Association of Title IX Administrators and is trained as a Title IX Hearing Officer. Joan served as Co-Chair of the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Subcommittee on Campus Sexual Violence, is an active member of the Chicagoland Title IX Consortium and the Association of Workplace Investigators, and was recently appointed to the City of Evanston’s Board of Ethics, where she serves as Vice Chair and reviews investigations of sensitive ethics complaints.
Joan earned her law degree from Harvard Law School (cum laude) and her undergraduate degree (summa cum laude) with concentrations in French and Russian Studies from the University of Michigan. Joan resides in Evanston, Illinois, with her family, and enjoys reading, swimming, and solving crossword puzzles.
Joan may be reached at jslavin@