About Shaun

I believe fair systems can change a life.

That belief began long before I became a lawyer. It runs from a double-wide trailer in Wyoming to a classroom in Las Vegas, a law office in Atlanta, and the early-morning call that changed how I serve federal employees.

Before sunrise

“We need to get information out.”

In January 2025, federal policy was changing faster than the people living under it could get reliable answers.

Executive orders were closing offices and reshaping the workforce. The “Fork in the Road” email would soon land in millions of inboxes. Probationary employees, supervisors, human resources teams, and even attorneys were trying to understand what was happening in real time.

One morning around 7 a.m., I called Lydia Taylor. I had already started drafting Freedom of Information Act requests to preserve records and understand the instructions agencies were receiving. I told her, “We need to do something. We need to get information out. Are you okay with doing this?” She said yes.

We read the documents, separated legal fact from online panic, and explained what federal employees could do next. The audience grew because the need was already there. Attention did not create the mission; it made the responsibility impossible to ignore.

Shaun Southworth looking ahead outside a modern office building — Shaun Southworth · federal employee advocate, attorney, educator, and founding partner of Southworth PC

A path opened by opportunity

The merit system is personal to me.

I grew up in a small Wyoming town of roughly 3,000 people, in a double-wide trailer. I became the first person in my family to attend college.

Debate was the first system I encountered that clearly rewarded preparation, evidence, and the courage to speak. It taught me that a person’s starting point did not have to decide where the argument—or the life—ended.

I graduated from Grinnell College in 2004, then spent two years teaching in Las Vegas through Teach For America. My students made the achievement gap concrete: talent was everywhere, while access to opportunity was not.

Duke Law gave me another way to work on that problem. An early civil-rights matter involving an HIV-positive barber and a licensing barrier showed me how administrative systems can shut a person out of a livelihood—and how law can help open the door again.

I also know that job loss is not an abstract employment event.

I was laid off early in my career in Atlanta. It was not my fault, and I received a good severance package. It still disrupted me for months. That experience stays with me when someone arrives in panic after a removal, a reduction in force, or an email that makes a long career suddenly feel disposable.

Mindfulness became part of my legal work because a person cannot protect a career well if fear or anger is making every decision. Calm does not make misconduct acceptable. It helps us see what is happening, document it accurately, and choose a response we will still stand behind tomorrow.

I founded Southworth PC in 2012 to represent federal employees. After more than 20,000 hours in this field, the work remains specific: understand the system, tell the truth, prepare the evidence, and protect the human being inside the case.

Career, case, and peace

Knowing what work can do to a person.

The responsibility now

Build something stronger than one voice.

The goal is not to make every answer depend on me. It is to build a firm, an educational platform, and a body of knowledge capable of serving the federal workforce for the long term.

I publish three short federal-workforce videos each weekday. The Federal Employee Briefing turns the day’s most important stories into plain-English context. The Mindful Federal Employee adds courses, community, and tools for protecting both career and peace. Civil Rights for Civil Servants creates room for the deeper conversation.

I am also deeply interested in how responsible technology can expand access to expertise. My rule is simple: people remain accountable. You drive. AI assists.

The lasting vision is a federal workforce that is harder to surprise, harder to intimidate, and better prepared to uphold the merit system for the next generation. I want to be a relentless educator and advocate so federal employees never get caught off guard again.

“Federal employees back America. I back federal employees.”Shaun Southworth

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