Meet Staffing GC

Combining decades of in-house staffing experience with strategic legal counsel to help staffing companies grow with confidence.

		
							Our Team
						
						
			
		
				
			
		
				
			
		
				
			
		
				
			
		
				
			
		
				
			
		
					
			
						
			
									
					
								
				
														
				
					Joanna Monroe
											Founding Partner
										
						
							Joanna Monroe is a Founding Partner of Staffing GC and a senior legal executive with more than 25 years in the staffing industry. Her counsel is practical and built for how staffing companies actually run, because she has spent her career running them from the legal side.
Joanna advises staffing firms on legal strategy, compliance, risk management, corporate governance, acquisitions, and growth. Her focus is simple: reduce legal costs, strengthen compliance, and clear the path to sustainable, profitable growth.
Before founding Staffing GC, Joanna spent more than 15 years as a senior legal, compliance, and risk executive at a publicly traded workforce solutions company, helping grow it into a $3 billion international organization and leading the staffing industry’s response to the Affordable Care Act. A recognized thought leader, she writes and speaks frequently on compliance and workforce strategy, and serves on the board of MultiCare, a $6 billion health system.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Joanna has called the Pacific Northwest home for over three decades, where she spends her time with family and in service to causes she is passionate about.
						
						
					
				
			
		
				
			
									
					
								
				
														
				
					Lia Elliott
											Founding Partner
										
						
							Lia Elliott is a Founding Partner of Staffing GC and a C-Suite advisor with more than 20 years of executive and legal experience in staffing and workforce solutions. A firm believer that “no” is seldom the answer, she simplifies legal complexity so her clients can keep growing.
Lia counsels staffing companies on legal strategy, compliance, litigation management, and the enterprise-wide systems that protect profit and reduce risk. Because she has led from both the legal chair and the executive table, her advice creates value well beyond a traditional legal opinion.
Before founding Staffing GC, Lia spent 15 years as General Counsel and a member of the executive leadership team at one of the largest light industrial staffing firms in the country, helping scale it from roughly $160 million in revenue to nearly $1 billion.
Born near Chicago and seasoned in Columbus, Indiana, Lia is now a full-time South Floridian. She serves on the board of an animal rescue organization and has personally fostered and placed hundreds of animals. She and her husband, Damon, spend the rest of their time chasing new adventures and cheering on their four children as they navigate adulthood.
						
						
					
				
			
		
				
			
									
					
								
				
														
				
					Rhea Baker
											Senior Legal Counsel
										
						
							Rhea Baker is a Senior Legal Counsel with Staffing GC who partners with executives, leadership teams, and HR professionals to untangle complex workplace challenges. Collaborative, pragmatic, and genuinely easy to work with, she delivers advice that is technically sound and grounded in how staffing firms actually operate.
Rhea advises clients on employee relations, workplace investigations, compliance, wage-and-hour matters, accommodations, restrictive covenants, and multi-state workforce risk, along with the policies and agreements that hold it all together.
She brings more than a decade of labor and employment law experience, including years as in-house counsel at a national staffing firm. She knows the pressures her clients face because she has sat in their seat.
Originally from Memphis, Rhea now lives in Upstate New York, where she can usually be found in the garden or spending time with her family.
						
						
					
				
			
		
				
			
									
					
								
				
														
				
					Alma Piñan
											Senior Legal Counsel
										
						
							Alma Piñan is a Senior Legal Counsel with Staffing GC and a seasoned California employment attorney, which means very little on the compliance front surprises her. Practical and business-minded, she helps staffing firms navigate evolving employment laws with solutions matched to their goals, workforce, and risk tolerance.
Alma advises clients on wage-and-hour compliance, PAGA, pay transparency, background checks, independent contractor classification, investigations, and the full employment lifecycle, from onboarding through terminations and restructures.
Before joining Staffing GC, Alma advised staffing firms on employment matters with Boren, Osher & Luftman and defended them in complex employment litigation with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, including wage-and-hour class actions.
Alma lives outside Atlanta with her husband and two young children, and unwinds with a good documentary whenever she can find the remote.
						
						
					
				
			
		
				
			
									
					
								
				
														
				
					Sadé V. Tidwell
											Senior Legal Counsel
										
						
							Sadé V. Tidwell is a Senior Legal Counsel with Staffing GC who helps staffing firms align legal compliance with business objectives and workforce realities. Practical and strategic, she believes good legal advice should solve problems, not create new ones.
Sadé counsels clients on wage-and-hour compliance, leave and accommodation laws, employee relations, investigations, employee mobility and remote work, independent contractor classification, and commercial agreements, with particular strength in multi-jurisdictional compliance.
Before joining Staffing GC, Sadé practiced labor and employment law with some of the nation’s leading firms, including Fisher Phillips, Seyfarth Shaw, and Morrison & Foerster, and supported in-house legal departments along the way. That blend gives her big-firm rigor and an in-house sense of what actually works.
Sadé lives in the Baltimore/DC area, and when she is not advising clients, she is likely planning her next international trip.
						
						
					
				
			
		
				
			
									
					
								
				
														
				
					Jessica Legault
											Paralegal
										
						
							Jessica Legault is a Paralegal with Staffing GC who combines more than five years of staffing industry experience with a sharp eye for detail and a genuine passion for problem-solving. Attorneys and clients alike count on her to keep complex matters moving.
Jessica’s work spans contract review, position statement drafting, business licensing, and compliance initiatives. Her staffing background gives her a practical feel for the operational challenges clients face, so her support always connects back to the business.
Jessica completed her Paralegal Certificate through Eastern Kentucky University in 2024, building on an earlier degree in Psychology and Addictions Counseling. She earned both while raising two children and advancing her staffing career, which tells you everything about her follow-through.
Jessica lives with her husband and two children in South Bend, Indiana, where she enjoys family time and finding new ways to put her combined staffing and legal knowledge to work for clients.
						
						
					
				
			
		
				
			
									
					
								
				
														
				
					Taylor Guzman
											Legal Assistant
										
						
							Taylor Guzman is a Legal Assistant with Staffing GC who keeps legal and administrative matters running efficiently, and makes it look easy. Organized, detail-oriented, and committed to exceptional client service, she is often the reason things happen on time.
Taylor supports Staffing GC’s attorneys and clients across legal, administrative, and operational functions, building and maintaining the processes that keep matters moving and the client experience smooth.
Taylor earned her degree in Human Resources from the University of Oklahoma, a background that gives her real insight into the workplace and employment issues Staffing GC clients face every day.
Taylor lives with her husband in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and outside of work she is usually learning something new.

About Us

Staffing GC was founded by Joanna Monroe and Lia Elliott, two attorneys who spent decades serving as in-house legal executives at leading national staffing companies. As trusted business advisors, they understand the legal, operational, and commercial realities staffing firms face because they’ve been responsible for solving them.

Time and again, they encountered the limitations of working with general practice law firms that had little to no experience with the staffing industry’s unique challenges. They knew there had to be a better way.

So they built one.

We are the first law firm dedicated exclusively to the staffing industry, providing staffing companies with the specialized legal counsel they need and deserve. Because staffing is all we do, our advice isn’t generic. It’s practical, relevant, and ready to use from day one.

Whether serving as fractional general counsel, supporting in-house legal departments, or advising on an hourly basis, we help staffing companies manage risk, strengthen client relationships, and achieve their business objectives.

In-house perspective. Outside counsel you can trust.

Our Philosophy

At Staffing GC, we believe legal counsel should be a strategic advantage — not just a resource you call when problems arise. We partner with staffing companies to help them grow, scale, and navigate an increasingly complex legal and regulatory landscape.

As an extension of your leadership team, we take the time to understand your business, your goals, and your challenges. That allows us to provide practical, business-focused legal guidance that supports growth, strengthens client relationships, and helps you make confident decisions as your company evolves.

To make that partnership accessible, we created The SGC Advantage™ — a flat-rate subscription model that gives staffing firms ongoing access to experienced legal counsel, without the uncertainty of hourly billing.