Top best Labor Lawyers in Oakland | 403 available

Gary Gwilliam is considered one of the best consumer trial attorneys in the state. His reputation and skill in representing seriously injured plaintiffs is well known. He has tried over 180 jury cases, of which almost 150 were plaintiff civil personal injury cases. He has handled major cases in every area of consumer law, including serious automobile and construction accidents, products liability, medical malpractice, bad faith insurance, civil rights (including police misconduct), wrongful termination and employment discrimination and harassment, and has recently concentrated more in employment law.. A noted lecturer and motivational speaker, he has conducted seminars and workshops around California and the United States for many years. He is the author of numerous articles on California consumer law and is frequently called upon to serve as an expert witness on the standard of care for lawyers' conduct. He frequently lectures on the topics of substance abuse, stress reduction, improving the quality of life as well as topics related to his practice.

Eric Pierson is a practical and results-oriented generalist attorney with over twenty years of law firm and in-house experience and a proven track record of success as a strategic business partner and trusted advisor.. Prior to starting his own firm, Eric spent over twelve years in-house in New York as a corporate generalist and lead U.S. attorney supporting the Americas division of Mitsui, a Fortune Global 500 Japanese multinational conglomerate.  Previously he practiced at San Francisco-based McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen and its successor firm, Bingham McCutchen, for ten years, primarily as a litigator focused on intellectual property and contract disputes.. Eric has deep expertise in general corporate matters, commercial transactions, labor and employment and crisis management, along with strong experience in litigation, intellectual property, antitrust, environmental, compliance, product liability, artificial intelligence, privacy, cybersecurity and ediscovery.  He is fluent in cross-border issues and diverse business cultures and offers exceptional communication, presentation and training skills.  Eric splits his time between New York City and San Francisco.

Employment law attorney Chambord Benton-Hayes founded the Oakland law firm Benton Employment Law in 2021. Prior to opening her own practice, she worked for an international firm where she counseled companies like Apple, Tesla, and Google on how to stay in compliance with labor laws. She now focuses her practice primarily on representing California workers who have been harassed, discriminated against, or otherwise mistreated on the job. Attorney Benton-Hayes is an empathetic, trustworthy, and compassionate legal counselor as well as a trial-tested litigator who refuses to back down from the competition until her clients succeed. She is currently the President of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Northern California. A San Francisco native, she enjoys cheering on her favorite basketball team, The Golden State Warriors.

Education and Background. I was fortunate. Despite never finishing high school or college, I was able – albeit with a lot of hard work – to gain admission to, and to excel at, one of the finest law schools in the country: U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. While I was at Boalt, I was privileged to be an editor for the California Law Review and a Member of the Moot Court Board, advising on brief writing and appellate advocacy for other students. After I left law school, in my early years of practice, I taught legal writing and appellate advocacy at University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Also, over the years, I have been presenter at continuing legal education events.. Legal Experience. I have been an attorney for 30 years. I have devoted my practice exclusively to representing employees, consumers, and investors in the state and federal trial courts and courts of appeal. I relish going to court for my clients and I have tried many jury cases in the state and federal courts.. Examples? In 2010, I was the lead attorney, along with the other attorneys in the firm, in Williams v. Union Pacific Railroadwhere, after four years of preparation, the firm obtained a jury verdict of $1,670,000 for an African-American female employee. In Rivero v. Surdyka, I was lead trial and appellate counsel in a civil rights case that lasted 15 years, including a full trial and three appeals to the Ninth Circuit, finally concluding in a judgment for plaintiffs of over $2,300,000. These cases illustrate the firm’s motto: commitment – results. You have to commit to a case, sometimes over a very long time, to get the result the client deserves.. We don’t always win in the trial court. When that happens, commitment means taking the case to the next level and appealing it. In the Rivero case, above, that’s what happened: the court dismissed the case – we had lost – but we appealed and achieved a victory for our clients which we kept through two more appeals. Since then, the firm has had many appellate victories that vindicate the rights of employees and consumers.. Over the years I have been counsel for plaintiffs in numerous individual cases and class actions. It may sound corny, or hard to believe, but after all this time, and after all the great experiences I have had, my favorite part of being a lawyer is when I get to give my client a check.

Edris Rodriguez received two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Language Studies and Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in June of 2006.  While at U.C. Santa Cruz, Mr. Rodriguez studied in Paris, France, at l'Institute d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.. Prior to law school, Mr. Rodriguez worked to protect the voting rights of all Americans as a Civil Rights Analyst at the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.  As an Analyst, Mr. Rodriguez was responsible for investigating claims of voter discrimination throughout the country, including claims of voter discrimination on the basis of race and language ability.  While at the Department of Justice, Mr. Rodriguez was responsible for two objections under the Voting Rights Act, which blocked the State of Louisiana and the City of Fayetteville, North Carolina, from implementing election practices and procedures that discriminated against African Americans.. In May of 2012, Mr. Rodriguez earned his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where he was the Supervisory Editor of the Hastings International and Comparative Law Review.  While in law school, he received numerous awards including a public interest service award, the Justice Mathew O. Tobriner Summer Fellowship, and three CALI and Witkin awards for excellence in Pretrial Practice, Estate Drafting, and Representing Spanish-Speaking workers.. Mr. Rodriguez worked as a legal extern at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's San Francisco office in the Administrative Hearings Unit.  Mr. Rodriguez also worked as a legal extern at the Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center's Racial Equality Unit.  During law school, Mr. Rodriguez volunteered as a tax preparer and with the Volunteer Legal Services Program at U.C. Hastings.. Mr. Rodriguez began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney with the San Francisco District Attorney's Office in the Misdemeanor Prosecution Unit where he was responsible for the prosecution of misdemeanor offenses from arraignment through trial.  Mr. Rodriguez successfully negotiated plea deals, conducted various evidentiary hearings, and prosecuted cases to trial.  After leaving the District Attorney's Office, Mr. Rodriguez worked as an Associate with the law firm of Villegas Carrera LLP where he practiced employment law litigation on behalf of California workers.. Currently, Mr. Rodriguez works as a Field Attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, Region 32, where he is responsible for the enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act.. He is admitted to practice in the State of California and is a member of the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association, and the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of California.

During the initial consultation, I listen carefully and answer questions directly, so as to dispel some of the mysteriousness of law. People call me because they are in crisis at work. Some have lost hope that they will ever be treated fairly, or even that anyone will listen. If you have a remedy, I'll tell you about it. If I can't help you, I'll try to point you towards someone who might be able to. If we work together, my role is to be an aggressive advocate on your behalf, and also a sort of support system to you. Litigation is always unpleasant, but I will prepare you for it and buffer you from it. Legal action takes an emotional toll on my clients. In addition to fighting for my clients' rights I also encourage them to make the best of the process, which sometimes means helping them get in touch with personal strengths they didn't know they had. Over the years, many clients have told me that our strong attorney-client relationship minimized the stress of litigation. Despite the lawyer jokes, we do have souls. And some of us care, deeply. I work aggressively on behalf of my clients to right workplace wrongs. Call me.

Denise's law practice focuses exclusively on employment issues and litigation in support of the rights of employees.  As a former associate in legal defense firms, Denise defended public and private entities against discrimination, harassment. retaliation, and wrongful termination claims. As a result, Denise understands how employers work and can often achieve results before a lawsuit is filed. As a seasoned litigator, she has enjoyed an extensive law and motion practice and has chaired several state court trials and arbitrations. Dedicated to making the workplace right for everyone, Denise's practice has included developing and presenting workplace trainings on such subjects as sexual harassment and the mandated reporting laws.. While in law school, Denise was on the editorial board of Law Review and received Witkin Awards for Academic Excellence in Remedies and Community Property and a CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Appellate Advocacy. She also served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Maria-Elena James, United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California. From 2010-2011, Denise served as the Director for Examinations for the State Bar of California, where she was responsible for the development of the California Bar Examination and testing accommodations for disabled applicants. Prior to starting her own firm, Denise worked as an associate at Gordon & Rees and Liebert Cassidy Whitmore where she gained invaluable experience in all aspects of employment law, in administrative and civil proceedings and through mediation and arbitration.

Barbara J. Parker is the City Attorney for the City of Oakland.. Barbara was born and raised in Seattle, Washington where her parents migrated to escape the poverty and oppression of the segregated South.. Barbara and her siblings are the first generation in her family’s history to attend college.  Barbara graduated from Harvard Law School and earned her undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Washington. She has practiced law for almost four decades in the private sector (including the law firm of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop) and Kaiser Hospitals) and at every level of government, including more than five years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.. After serving as Chief Assistant City Attorney in Oakland for more than 10 years, voters elected Barbara to a full term as City Attorney in 2012.. As Oakland’s City Attorney, Barbara has worked to improve public safety, to secure equal opportunity and justice for all Oaklanders, and to assure that City Hall operates in a transparent, honest and fair manner. She shut down two Oakland hotels that were centers for prostitution and the sexual exploitation of minors. She has sued big banks and financial institutions to hold them accountable for violating antitrust laws and mortgage lending violations. She won a record $15 million judgment in a lawsuit against a fraudulent immigration consultant preying on Oakland families. And she launched an initiative to crack down on illegal dumping, which has resulted in thousands of dollars in fines for people who dump their trash on Oakland streets.. Barbara also serves as Board President of the Black Adoption Placement and Research Center, which for more than 30 years has found permanent homes for children, the majority of whom are in California’s foster care system.. She has lived in Oakland for more than three decades and is a long time resident of the Haddon Hill neighborhood near Oakland’s Lake Merritt.

ANDREA S. CARLISE is an Assistant County Counsel with the Office of the County Counsel in Alameda, CA where she oversees the Advocacy and Litigation Division.. Ms. Carlise has been recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer every year since 2012. She has litigated and managed cases throughout California, representing clients at trial and facilitating the settlement or dismissal of countless cases. Ms. Carlise has successfully represented clients in State and Federal court, as well as before the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board. She has assisted clients in resolving employment disputes and negotiating favorable severance packages. She is currently representing ValleyCare Health System, Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, Alameda Hospital, El Camino Hospital and the County of Alameda in a variety of complex cases involving wrongful termination, employment discrimination, police practices, civil rights and other litigation matters.. Ms. Carlise has a strong commitment to Pro Bono and community service. She has served as President of the National Conference of Women's Bar Associations and California Women Lawyers. Ms. Carlise served on the Board of Directors of the Conference of California Bar Associations from 2009-2012 and is an active member of Queen's Bench Bar Association, having served on its Board of Directors. She has served as the President of the Board of Girls Inc. of the Island City. Ms. Carlise was a recipient of the 2012-2013 Women of Achievement Award from California Women Lawyers and the 2015 Women's Human Rights & Leadership Award from the International Action Network for Gender Equity and Law.