Badger Employment Lawyers

P.J. Van Ert is a seasoned trial lawyer and civil litigator specializing in class actions and individual employment matters. As a Blackstone law associate she dedicates her practice to California employees. After more than 75 criminal jury trials during thirteen years as a deputy district attorney, she transitioned to civil litigation and found her way to Blackstone. From wage and hour theft to sexual harassment and hostile work environment, she is able to utilize her years of zealously advocating for victims of crime to get superior results in employment cases. Ms. Van Ert has earned guilty verdicts in lengthy homicide...

Betty is an associate attorney at Blackstone Law. She graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and a minor in Armenian Studies. While in undergrad, Betty, along with fellow classmates, started the Armenian Pre-Law Students Association, to connect Armenian students aspiring to become attorneys to successful alumni within their community. A proud double Bruin, Betty later attended UCLA School of Law, where she obtained her Juris Doctorate. As a law student, Betty’s professor recognized her articulate writing abilities and selected her as a Legal Research and Writing Advisor for first...

Joana Fang is a Senior Associate Attorney with expertise in class action, employment litigation, personal injury, insurance litigation, and consumer protection laws. Ms. Fang has extensive experience in case management and all aspects of litigation, from drafting complaints to engaging in the discovery process, settlement negotiations, and preparing for trial. During her legal career, she has recovered millions of dollars for her clients. Ms. Fang is also a prolific writer who has written and published numerous articles on Law360, The Recorder, and Daily Journal. She has also led seminars on using depositions at trial and on litigating sexual abuse cases against schools...

Lara is an associate attorney at Blackstone Law. She graduated from Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology with a concentration in Criminal Justice and a minor in Communications. Lara then earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles where she specialized in Critical Race Studies. While in law school, Lara worked as a law clerk at the District of Columbia Public Defender Service and as a judicial clerk in the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Hearings Unit in Los Angeles. She was involved with the El Centro Teen Court Clinic, Disability Law Journal,...

Danielle L. GruppChang is a passionate advocate for workers’ rights and a seasoned attorney specializing in wage and hour class actions. Raised in a family where both parents worked in the restaurant industry, Ms. GruppChang developed an early respect for the hard work and resilience of the Californian workers. This background exposed Ms. GruppChang the struggles of working-class individuals sparked her dedication to fighting for justice on behalf of workers. Ms. GruppChang’s professional journey began when she started working at a local coffee shop and continued throughout college where she worked tables, often serving her classmates. These experiences further resolved her...

Ms. Gold is an experienced litigation attorney who specializes in class action labor and employment matters. She spent the first decade of her career at a major law firm working on a wide range of business matters, including defending clients in high-stakes class action litigation. This experience provided Ms. Gold with valuable insight on how to best position cases for settlement and/or trial by allowing her to better understand defendants’ strategies, incentives, and motivations throughout the various phases of litigation. Ms. Gold then transitioned to a well-known boutique plaintiff-side class action law firm, where she was instrumental in obtaining nearly $100,000,000...

Alex Favela serves as the firm’s Pre-Litigation Attorney and specializes in disputes involving wage and hour violations, misclassification, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, failure to accommodate violations, and class actions. Alex received his J.D. from Stanford Law School. As a child of immigrant working-class parents, upholding the dignity of workers is central to Alex’s identity as a lawyer. A person’s job is their livelihood, and Alex strongly believes that workers deserve to be treated with respect and fairness. Before joining the firm, Alex represented workers at a respected employment plaintiff-side law firm. He has also clerked for the U.S. Office of Special...

Leo Livshits is an accomplished employment attorney with extensive trial and litigation experience. Mr. Livshits handles a wide variety of employment matters involving workplace discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other civil rights violations. Aside from securing numerous seven-figure settlements in single-plaintiff cases, Mr. Livshits has co-chaired jury trials and arbitrations that resulted in verdicts or judgments of $155.4 million, $2.7 million, $1.7 million, and $1 million. Additionally, Mr. Livshits has successfully litigated appeals in state and federal court. This includes a published decision in Hernandez v. Meridian Management Services, LLC (2023) 87 Cal.App.5th 1214, where the California Court of Appeal found that...

Legal Experience Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of California, 1994-2005. Civil Chief, 2001-2003 Deputy Civil Chief, 1998-2001 AUSA, 1994-1998, 2003-2005 Attorney of record in cases resulting in over twenty published decisions; Litigated hundreds of cases in federal district court; Litigated over 80...

Discrimination harassment attorney licensed in California, New York and before the US Supreme Court.

Elizabeth formed her own law practice in 2011 in order to provide quality, affordable legal services to the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and received her law degree from the University of San Francisco, School of Law. While in law school, Elizabeth worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and clerked at several solo law practices, gaining experience in a wide array of civil law. Her overwhelmingly positive experiences with these solo practitioners led her to the decision to open her own firm. She has a...

Having previously practiced at an American Law 100 firm as well as in-house counsel for a multi-national corporation, Mr. Hakala brings both legal expertise and business sense to the business transactions that clients seek to accomplish and the complex legal problems that they seek to litigate and resolve. Mr. Hakala has not only litigated various complex business and employment matters on behalf of Fortune 100 clients, he also provides general business, technology, and media law representation to various companies, including start-up businesses and those in the renewable energies sector.  Mr. Hakala is an experienced business litigator who has also...

After years of practice at one of the world’s largest law firms, the California Court of Appeal, Orange County District Attorney’s Office, and the United States Department of Justice, Mr. Zandi joined with his mentor, friend, and one of California’s leading trial lawyers, Shawn Steel, to form Steel Zandi, APLC. Mr. Zandi is nationally recognized as one of the leading experts in Qui Tam and state and federal whistleblower litigation and policy. While serving as an assistant United States attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Mr. Zandi led the DOJ’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement Task Force (ACE). As director of...

Attorney Rupal represents employees, employers and healthcare professionals.

Sanford Kassel has practiced in San Bernardino for over 33 years and taken over 100 cases to trial. He has earned a number of notable verdicts and settlements, among them: • Highest “Medical Malpractice” Jury Trial Verdict, in the history of San Bernardino County. • Highest “Wrongful Death” Settlement, in the history of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. • Settled “Whistleblower” case against San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors for $650,000.00.

Ms. McGuinness has extensive experience in all phases of litigation, including pleading, pre-trial discovery, depositions, motion practice, mediation, and trial practice, in both state and federal court. Ms. McGuinness also has experience litigating in other state jurisdictions. Ms. McGuinness’s primary areas of practice include labor & employment law (including wage and hour, retaliation and discrimination), civil and business litigation, construction, breach of contract, tort law and entertainment related litigation. Ms. McGuinness has represented Fortune 500 companies both prosecuting and defending against major construction defect claims and cross-claims. Prior to working at McGuinness & Associates, Ms. McGuinness practiced at a plaintiffs’ class...

When you need an attorney with high-level experience and an aggressive litigation style, then Yudien Law Firm, P.C. is here for you. Located in Walnut Creek while serving the San Francisco Bay Area and the surrounding cities, our firm is dedicated to providing the best legal counsel and representation in a variety of specialties including: business, real estate, and labor law. We believe that you deserve a dedicated and experienced local San Francisco Bay Area lawyer to protect your interests, and we stand firmly in our commitment to professional ethics in each and every case we accept. If you need...

Jeremy Pasternak has been a steadfast advocate for individuals and small businesses in employment and civil rights cases since 1995. His legal career commenced at Santa Clara University School of Law, where he graduated in 1995, earning a Public Interest Scholarship and contributing as a member of the Law Review. Prior to his graduation, Mr. Pasternak honed his skills at Rudy, Exelrod & Zieff, and the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco/Employment Law Center, both firms specializing in employment disputes. His post-graduation career began at O’Donnell & Mandel in Santa Monica, followed by a position at the Law Offices of David...

Griswold LAW provides legal counseling and representation in employment disputes, business disputes, contract disputes, trademark litigation, business collection matters, and real estate issues for individuals and businesses in San Diego and Los Angeles. Attorney Richardson "Red" Griswold is a member of the California State Bar and licensed to practice law in all California state courts, as well as the United States District Courts in the Southern District and Central District of California. Mr. Griswold earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis and his law degree, magna cum laude, from California Western School of Law in San Diego....

John-Paul S. Deol serves as partner and the leader of the Firm's Employment Law Practice Group across the country. Specializing in high-profile, critical cases, he represents an elite clientele that includes globally recognized C-level executives, board members, EVPs, VPs, as well as partners in investment and law firms, founders, entrepreneurs, and leading healthcare professionals. These clients hail from some of the most prestigious public and private entities across various sectors such as technology, finance, private equity, venture capital, life sciences, law, and healthcare. John-Paul's extensive background is marked by his adept handling of sensitive, high-pressure employment scenarios, including disputes with...

Michael Rogers primarily represents national and regional automotive dealership clients in a wide variety of legal matters including consumer actions and complex litigation, federal and state regulatory matters, unfair competition claims, commercial and consumer litigation, labor and employment issues and franchise disputes. He has significant experience in effectively resolving high-stakes litigation and providing counsel for litigation avoidance and regulatory compliance. In addition to automotive dealerships, his clients include automotive affiliated businesses such as finance companies, flooring lenders, automobile service centers, and surety bonding companies. In addition to his extensive understanding of the complexities of the automotive industry, Michael’s particular...

Sydney D. Finlay is an Associate at Miller Shah LLP’s San Diego office. She earned her law degree from the University of Washington School of Law, where she developed her legal acumen while serving as a Summer Clerk with the Washington State Office of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division. Following graduation, she furthered her experience by clerking for the Snohomish County Superior Court. Committed to public service, Sydney volunteers as a Case Manager for the Immigrant Family Advocacy Project and has also served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for the King County Family Law Court. Fluent in Spanish, Sydney...