Professional Experience

Sara Amies is a leader in the Seattle employment law community, having two decades of  experience advising employees and small businesses on employment law issues. She counsels both employees and employers in resolving a wide range of disputes privately and has significant experience representing individual plaintiffs in discrimination suits in state and federal court. Sara handles contract disputes, severance negotiations, business disputes, non-competition agreements, and more.

Sara has a successful track record of representing numerous individual plaintiffs in jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations. She has a special interest in non-compete issues, and prides herself on generating practical legal strategies that meet her clients’ goals and further the interests of justice.

Sara’s work has contributed to significant changes in Washington law that expanded worker protections with religious entities, including defeating a religious employer’s petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court that sought to exclude LGBTQIA people from employment.  Woods v. Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, 2022

Representative work:

  • Regularly counsels and successfully prosecutes sex, race, disability and whistleblower discrimination claims brought by individuals from across the workforce.
  • Advises employers seeking to avoid employment discrimination and retaliation claims.
  • Advises both employees and employers on non-competes and other restrictive covenants.
  • Prepares employment handbooks, advises employers on proper classification of exempt and non-exempt workers, and wage garnishment claims.
  • Conducts workplace investigations in response to discrimination claims.

In her spare time, Sara enjoys gardening, hiking, and cooking. She is learning to paint. Sara rows with Conibear Rowing Club, where a highlight of her life was racing in the prestigious Head of the Charles regatta in 2017.

Professional Affiliations

  • Washington Employment Lawyers Association (2006 – present)
  • Pacific Coast Labor & Employment Law Conference, Planning Committee (2020 Chair)
  • Legal Voice, Intake Committee
  • Trustee, King County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section
  • King County Washington Women Lawyers Judicial Evaluation Committee
  • Association of Workplace Investigators Certificate Holder (AWI-CH), Association of Workplace Investigations (AWI)

Admitted to Practice

  • Washington State Bar, 2005
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington
  • United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
  • 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

Honors and Awards

  • Recognized for 2026 by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation – Labor and Employment, based on an exhaustive peer-review survey
  • Super Lawyers Magazine, “Super Lawyer” – Employment Litigation, Plaintiff (2016-2025)
  • Super Lawyers Magazine, “Rising Star”, (2007-15)
  • King County Bar Association Pro Bono Service Award (2006)

Content by Sara Amies