Most Highly Regarded Firms: California 2009 - Management Labour and Employment
Forty-one highly regarded labour and employment lawyers from 22 firms were chosen for this chapter. Each brings a different perspective to the profession, providing advice and litigation in practice areas such as equal employment opportunity (EEO), wage-hour and ‘whistleblower' cases. The practitioners listed all focus on defence work for employers and many also provide preventive advice on contracts, handbooks and workplace strategies.
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP lawyers were a popular choice, with eight members of the multi-practice firm selected in this chapter. Nancy Abell chairs the firm's 200-lawyer employment law department. Her clients include major financial institutions, retailers, technology companies, defence contractors, manufacturing companies, professional firms and entertainment companies. She has counselled national law firms on "glass ceiling" cases throughout the country and has defended members of the judiciary. She is the author of An Employer's Guide for Preparing Affirmative Action Programs. James Zapp is co-chair of the employment law department in the Los Angeles office. Zapp's clients include major domestic and international employers such as biotechnology, pharmaceutical and construction companies. He was recommended for his "outstanding success rate". Paul Grossman represents major private employers in all aspects of employment law. His areas include class action, wage-hour cases, wrongful discharge, discrimination, sexual harassment and whistleblower cases. He is also the general counsel of the California Employment Law Council and a founding member of The College of Labour and Employment Lawyers. Kirby Wilcox is a "huge name" in employment law who has litigated in federal and state courts as well as before federal and state agencies. He has defended EEO and wage-hour class actions and wrongful discharge actions. He has also worked on labour arbitrations and counselled clients through a range of employment matters including privacy, trade secrets, disability accommodation and medical leave. Paul Cane is an "essential contact" for management-side employment issues. He recently represented Sprint Nextel in an age discrimination case at the US Supreme Court that reversed a Tenth Circuit Decision to allow "me too" evidence. The "well-respected" Al Latham is a partner in Los Angeles and represents clients in all aspects of labour relations and employment law. He is a frequent speaker at seminars and programmes on employment law topics as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Law School. William Waldo has acted for employers in jury trials in state and federal courts including sexual harassment lawsuits; disability discrimination lawsuits; sex, race and national origin discrimination lawsuits; and a representative disability and age discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of more than 1,000 claimants. His clients include chemical companies, defence contractors and religious institutions. Jeffrey Wohl is a partner in San Francisco and represents major national and regional companies in high technology, financial services and retail industries. He focuses in the areas of employment litigation and counselling, including individual and class action discrimination, wage-hour, wrongful discharge and privacy cases.
Rebecca Eisen is chair of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP's West Coast wage-hour practice and was described as a "top choice" by one source. She litigates actions in state, federal and appellate courts, and before administrative agencies. She has represented clients including financial services companies, insurance industries, and retailers in the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Peter Hurtgen is senior counsel in the firm's labour and employment practice. He focuses on providing advice with respect to complex issues involving collective bargaining and the National Labour Relations Act (NLRA). Hurtgen led the negotiations between the United Food and Commercial Workers and representatives of Southern California's supermarket chains, which meant 60,000 workers returned to work after 141 days, ending the nation's longest strike in the retail grocery industry history.
Fred Alvarez of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati focuses on strategic, preventive, and compliance advice and internal investigations. He also defends employers in individual and class action settings brought by private and governmental parties and by former senior executives.
Sole practitioner Steven Drapkin is best known for his "excellent defence work" and was frequently mentioned in our research. His clients include motion picture studios and television broadcasters as well as a large airline and a restaurant corporation. He is well known for his role representing the employer in California's landmark wrongful discharge case, Foley v. Interactive Data Corp. Drapkin is extremely active in writing amicus briefs and is well known as outside labour counsel for a range of clients, including divisions of Lucasfilm such as Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound.
Joel Krischer from Latham & Watkins LLP represents employers in a broad range of state and federal employment matters and in a broad array of matters under the NLRA. He recently served as the chair of the Los Angeles litigation department and is currently the national chair of the Employment Law Group.
Framroze Virjee chairs O'Melveny & Myers LLP's labour and employment practice. His practice includes representing and advising employers in employment-related litigation including wrongful discharge, collective bargaining negotiations and arbitrations. He represents clients from a wide range of industries including aerospace, entertainment and finance before state and federal agencies and state and federal courts. He also provides preventive labour and employment law advice through client counselling, policy and procedure review and drafting, and extensive in-house training and education on important labour and employment law issues. Gordon Krischer is a former chair of the firm's labour and employment practice. His litigation practice includes individual and complex class action and multiple plaintiff employment discrimination litigation in state and federal courts. Krischer has represented a metropolitan transit authority and a large school district in negotiations with numerous bargaining units covering thousands of employees. He also provides advice for clients in aerospace, computer, telecommunications, utility and retail industries and has acted as lead counsel in a series of multi-plaintiff toxic tort cases. Scott Dunham leads the firm's representation of employers in workers' safety and health matters, ranging from single citations to criminal prosecutions. Dunham and was described as "a leading expert" in such cases. He represented Amgen in one of the first cases filed under the Labour Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 and has acted for a number of large international companies such as Sony Pictures Entertainment and Time Warner Entertainment Company. Apalla Chopra represents companies in the biotechnology, manufacturing, airline, food and the private and public school sectors. She recently worked with a major Hollywood motion picture and television studio in a class action race discrimination lawsuit and a public hospital in collective bargaining negotiations with Service Employees International Union. As well as litigation work, Chopra also provides day-to-day labour and employment law advice and training to public and private employers.
Alan Berkowitz of Bingham McCutchen LLP works primarily for local companies and was described as a "very strong practitioner". Berkowitz focuses on the representation of employers in domestic and international labour and employment law and unfair competition. He has extensive experience in labour and management issues, including union election campaigns, picketing, unfair labour practice proceedings, labour arbitrations and collective bargaining. His civil litigation practice focuses on wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, unfair competition and wage-hour matters. He regularly counsels and trains managers and human resource professionals in labour and employment issues.
James McDonald is managing partner of Fisher & Phillips LLP's Irvine office. His practice focuses on the litigation of employment disputes, involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment, employment discrimination, Americans with Disabilities Act, mental health issues in the workplace, and trade secrets and unfair competition matters. He also advises employers on union strikes and picketing matters and obtains injunctions against unlawful picketing, and he counsels employers on labour and employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Alongside his legal work McDonald also lectures on defence of psychological injury claims in employment litigation and mental disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
David Kadue of Seyfarth Shaw LLP concentrates on defence litigation, including workplace harassment, wrongful termination and employment discrimination. He also advises employers with respect to employment contracts, policies, handbooks, and investigations of alleged employee misconduct. Kadue was recommended for his "dedication to his clients". Stacy Shartin works on collective bargaining, arbitrations, wrongful termination litigation, and issues arising under state and federal statutes, such as the 1964 and 1991 Civil Rights Acts, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and the Immigration Reform and Control Act. He has advised employers in a variety of industries including agriculture, electronics, trucking, manufacturing and hospitality. He is co-chair of the programme committee of the labour and employment law section of the California State Bar Association. Gilmore Diekmann is a partner in the firm's San Francisco office. His practice includes employment discrimination matters, wrongful discharge cases and union dispute litigation. He has represented clients before agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Larry Drapkin chairs Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP's 26-attorney labour and employment group. He has been lead counsel in a wide array of labour and employment litigation including wrongful termination and related cases, NLRB proceedings, collective bargaining negotiations, arbitrations, mediations, and administrative proceedings before various federal and state agencies. He has advised clients from the entertainment industry, social services and others concerning discrimination, sexual harassment, federal and state labour laws and occupational safety and health issues. The "simply terrific" William Cole has acted as lead counsel in employment discrimination, whistle blower, ERISA, LMRA section 301 and wrongful termination cases, labour arbitrations and NLRB hearings. He also provides representation of several significant benefit plans providing both day-to-day and litigation counsel. He recently represented a motion picture and television company in class-action wage-hour and age discrimination cases and a large aerospace corporation in several wrongful discharge and employment discrimination litigation and arbitration matters. Allen Gross works in collective bargaining, arbitration, labour-management policy matters, employment litigation and advice. He recently worked as lead counsel in a complex litigation matter involving 12 individual suits, a class action, and a separate lawsuit brought by the Labour Commissioner of the State of California where claimed damages were in excess of $50 million.
Lynne Hermle is head of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP's Silicon Valley employment group. Hermle has represented several large employers in wage-hour class actions, including Blockbuster and Burlington Coat Factory. She has also advised clients such as Inland Container, City of Tracy, IBM and Varian in cases ranging from sexual harassment to disability discrimination cases. Patricia Gillette focuses on all aspects of employment law, including wrongful discharge and discrimination litigation in both state and federal court, representation of employers in hearings before administrative agencies and counselling and training employers on preventive personnel practices. Gillette also works to increase the profile of women and ethnic minorities in the workplace. She was described by one source as a "a leading name in the industry".
Gary Siniscalco practises in EEO, affirmative action, wrongful discharge and wage-hour matters and has litigated class actions and individual employment cases before federal and state courts and administrative agencies. He has represented industrial and technology companies in the United States such as General Electric Lighting and Transamerica Delaval and was described as "a leader in discrimination defence".
Garry Mathiason has supervised Littler Mendelson PC attorneys on over 1,000 employment and labour litigation matters and currently defends employers in complex wage-hour and discrimination class action cases. Mathiason was instrumental in creating some of the firm's preventive employment law programmes. He has drafted model legislation on workplace violence, and appeared frequently on national radio and television regarding violence prevention in the workplace. He has represented American Airlines, Dow Chemical, Cisco Systems and Franklin Templeton among others.
William Emanuel represents management in traditional labour matters including collective bargaining negotiations, labour arbitration and corporate campaigns. He also advises on wage-hour and California Labour Code issues as well as executive terminations and severance agreements.
Richard Simmons of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP was frequently mentioned in our research. His practice includes state and federal wage-hour laws, wrongful discharge, employment discrimination, employee discipline and termination, employee benefits, affirmative action, union representation proceedings, and contract arbitrations. Jeffrey Berman of Sidley Austin LLP has represented employers including medical centres, universities and airlines in many of the NLRB regional offices in the Western United States. The "highly recommended" Roberta Hayashi of Berliner Cohen has represented employers in a number of sexual discrimination, unfair dismissal and defamation cases. Stephen Hirschfeld is a founding partner of specialist employment firm, Curiale Dellaverson Hirschfeld & Kraemer LLP and chief executive officer of the Employment Law Alliance. He was described as "intelligent and reliable". Michael Lotito is also a partner at a boutique employment firm, Jackson Lewis LLP and was recommended for "providing excellent advice". He specialises in implementing preventative measures in the workplace and has acted as lead counsel for a number of large national companies. John Fox of Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP specialises in complex litigation cases involving trade secrets, wage-hour and discrimination class actions, wrongful termination, corporate investigations, and the use of statistics in employment matters. He also provides business and strategic advice to large companies to minimise legal risk.