About The Mindful Federal Employee
Meet the firm and people behind this federal employee resource.
The Mindful Federal Employee is a free public-education resource from Southworth PC, a nationwide law firm focused on federal employment law.
Southworth PC founder Shaun Southworth and partner Lydia Taylor help turn fast-moving workforce developments, federal employment processes, and practical workplace concerns into information federal employees can understand and use.
The firm behind the resource
Southworth PC serves the federal workforce nationwide.
Southworth PC represents current and former federal employees in workplace disputes involving discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower reprisal, disciplinary actions, removals, and other federal employment matters.
Its growing nationwide team includes 35 legal professionals, including 14 attorneys. Many of those attorneys are former federal employees who bring firsthand knowledge of federal agencies, workplace systems, and the pressures public servants face.
That experience deepens a shared passion: helping the people who serve the country protect their careers and the merit system. The firm works as a fully remote national team and maintains offices in Atlanta, Dallas, and Washington, D.C.
Our mission: help 500 federal employees resolve their employment disputes over the next five years.
Learn About Southworth PCWhy this resource exists
When the federal workplace changed rapidly, people needed a source they could trust.
In early 2025, federal policy began changing faster than many employees could find reliable answers. Agency communications, headlines, rumors, and social-media claims often collided. Shaun and Lydia began reading the underlying documents, explaining what was known, naming what remained uncertain, and identifying the decisions and deadlines that mattered.
The audience grew because the need was already there. Attention did not create the mission; it made the responsibility to keep helping impossible to ignore.
Meet Shaun and Lydia
Different paths. One commitment to federal employees.
Founder and CEO of Southworth PC | Federal employment attorney | Educator | Author
Shaun Southworth
Shaun's path led from rural Wyoming through Grinnell College, Teach For America, Duke Law, and the founding of Southworth PC. His work is grounded in a belief that the merit system can open doors - and that the public servants who keep government working deserve candid information and meaningful protection.
Shaun writes most of the articles on this site, publishes the free weekday Federal Employee Briefing, co-hosts Civil Rights for Civil Servants, and wrote Finding Peace at Work. His approach joins rigorous legal thinking with mindfulness: stand up for your rights while staying steady enough to make deliberate decisions.
Read Shaun's Full StoryCo-owner and partner at Southworth PC | Leads day-to-day firm operations | Federal employment attorney | Former HR leader
Lydia Taylor
Before becoming an employee-rights attorney, Lydia worked inside human resources and saw how personnel rules are made, interpreted, and sometimes misused. Her experience also includes work as a litigation support specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice and certification as a federal EEO investigator.
Lydia now runs Southworth PC's day-to-day operations, turning the firm's mission and values into the systems that support clients and a growing nationwide team. She also brings her operational, human-resources, and legal perspective to litigation strategy, articles, and public education. As Shaun's co-host on Civil Rights for Civil Servants, she helps federal employees understand how workplace decisions unfold, what a strong record requires, and how to prepare before a problem escalates.
Read Lydia's Full StoryHow Southworth PC works
Values that guide the work.
Client-Focused
Begin with the employee's goals, circumstances, and definition of a meaningful resolution.
Results-Driven
Pursue purposeful work and practical outcomes - not activity for its own sake.
Truth-Based
Give candid assessments, distinguish facts from assumptions, and never promise what the evidence cannot support.
Compassion-Minded
Recognize the human cost of workplace conflict and treat people with care while protecting their options.
Better Than Yesterday
Keep learning, measuring, improving, and using technology responsibly to serve federal employees better.
Our public-education standard
Useful information begins with honesty.
- Start with the actual source whenever possible.
- Separate confirmed facts from uncertainty and commentary.
- Explain federal employment acronyms, forums, and processes in plain English.
- Flag deadlines and practical preparation steps without pretending general information is individual legal advice.
- Treat calm as strategic strength, not passive acceptance.
- Correct and improve the work as the law, facts, and federal workforce change.
One connected ecosystem
Choose the resource that fits what you need now.
Federal Employee Resources
Current workforce developments, durable rights guides, and practical next-step information.
Explore the Resource CenterCivil Rights for Civil Servants
Shaun and Lydia's podcast about federal employee rights, workplace developments, and the systems behind them.
Listen to the PodcastWork Peacefully
Mindfulness practices, workplace resilience resources, and Shaun's book Finding Peace at Work.
Explore Work PeacefullySouthworth PC
For an individual or time-sensitive federal employment matter, use the firm's separate confidential intake process.
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