Over her 25-plus-year career, Cardelle Spangler has concentrated her practice on employment relations litigation and counseling matters. She has significant experience representing clients in the medical device, pharmaceutical, food service, financial service, and transportation industries. Spangler is Winston & Strawn’s Managing Partner for Internal Affairs.
Spangler has represented clients in complex class action, collective action, multi-plaintiff, and single plaintiff employment litigation. Spangler has substantial trial experience before state and federal courts, as well as arbitrators. She has successfully defended collective action lawsuits brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act; class action lawsuits brought under the FLSA, Title VII and ERISA alleging breaches of fiduciary duties against corporate and individual defendants; claims brought under ERISA for denial of benefits and discrimination; claims brought under various state and federal statutes for age, race, sex, color, religion, and disability discrimination and/or harassment; and common law and/or statutory claims for unfair competition, misappropriation of trade secrets, and various torts. Spangler has also conducted harassment and other investigations, drafted employment and independent contractor agreements, and conducted labor and employment training.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers | 2026 | Employment Relations Litigation & Counseling |
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2026 | Employment Relations Litigation |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America | 2025 | Employment Relations Litigation |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers | 2025 | Employment Relations Litigation & Counseling |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Corporate Employment Lawyers | 2024 | Employment Relations Litigation & Counseling |
In 2010, Spangler was appointed by a federal judge to serve as compliance administrator for the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. Her responsibilities include(d), among other things, adjudicating employee claims of unlawful political discrimination, including awarding damages where appropriate; training the recorder, supervisors and employees on unlawful political discrimination; monitoring and reporting on employment actions of the office; drafting an employment plan for approval by the parties and the court to ensure proper policies and procedures are established and followed to help prevent unlawful political discrimination in the office; and filing periodic public reports with the court on the office’s progress toward substantially complying with the terms of the court’s order.