Novato Employment Lawyers

Mr. Dietz has aggressively litigated civil cases in California for over a decade. He has represented government agencies in high-profile employment law, general liability and civil rights matters, including representing some of the largest school districts in California. His prior experience includes working at one of the largest firms in the U.S., as well as a highly respected litigation boutique, where he represented the full gamut of businesses from Fortune 500 companies to mom-and-pop shops in employment and business litigation matters in state and federal court and administrative bodies. Over the course of his career, Mr. Dietz...

Barbara is dedicated to fighting for the rights of California’s employees in both individual and class/PAGA cases. As a working mom, Barbara has a particular passion for vindicating the rights of women who have suffered discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Barbara was also co-counsel on Young v. Department of Public Social Services, et al, a retaliation/whistleblower case, and obtained the 7th highest employment law verdict in California in 2022. Presently, Barbara and her team focus on litigating class and PAGA actions on behalf of thousands of California employees who have been denied meal and rest periods, denied fair compensation, and...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

Imad Elias is a founding partner of The Law Offices of Mann & Elias, a Los Angeles based law firm handling employment law and personal injury cases. Contact Mann & Elias at (323) 857-9500 for a free consultation.

Ms. Schimmel’s practice is dedicated to employment litigation matters on behalf of California employees. More than half of Ms. Schimmel’s experience has been focused on representing employees in wage and hour class and representative actions for labor code violations (including, but not limited to, claims unpaid overtime, minimum wages, expense reimbursement, meal and rest period), as well as consumer and privacy right matters. Ms. Schimmel’s experience also includes representing employees in wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment and retaliation matters against employers who violate California law. She has successfully prosecuted and resolved hundreds of cases. Prior to joining Blackstone, Ms. Schimmel...

David Spivak is a Southern California employee rights litigator. From offices based in Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles, David Spivak has been fighting for the rights of California workers since 1995. He has obtained several million dollars in recoveries for his clients. Mr. Spivak's areas of concentration in labor and employment law include: Wrongful Termination, Constructive Discharge, and Public Policy Violations Discrimination Harassment Retaliation & Whistleblowers Employment Contracts & Severance Agreements Defamation of Character (Slander & Libel) Unpaid Overtime Wages Unpaid Minimum Wages Unprovided Rest Breaks and Meal Periods Failure to Pay Work-Related Expenses Medical & Family Leave...

Alex is a Senior Associate Attorney at Blackstone Law. Alex is an active member of the legal community as it relates to employees’ rights. Alex is a member of the California Employment Lawyers’ Association (CELA), and is on the committee for the Mentor Committee, the Women’s Committee, the Legislative Committee, the Wage and Hour Committee, and the New Member Committee, as well as a recent admit to the 2024 – 2025 CELA Leadership Conservatory. Alex has significant experience providing the best counsel for his clients, whether through trial, or through multimillion dollar settlements, or through whatever need the client may describe....

Ken Ruttenberg is the founder of The Ruttenberg Law Firm, P.C.. He is an experienced and seasoned civil litigator in a broad range of legal areas including employment, construction and personal injury.

In 2014 through 2017, Ken was selected to the list of Southern California Super Lawyers, a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Fewer than five percent of attorneys receive the Super Lawyers recognition. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Ken was named among the Top 100 Southern California Super Lawyers. Ken is also an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review...

With more than 20 years of experience, Tre Lovell has been noted among the elite trial lawyers in the nation, having been named "Lawyer of the Year" Finalist, 2016, by the Los Angeles Business Journal, and further honored by The National Law Journal as one of the Top 50 Litigation Trailblazers in the United States. Mr. Lovell has been recognized among the top 1% of attorneys in the country as a litigator through such esteemed organizations as America's Top 100 Attorneys, Distinguished Justice Advocates, National Academy of Jurisprudence, Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Rue's Best Attorneys of America. In addition,...

My practice focuses on vindicating employees’ rights in single plaintiff discrimination suits, wage & hour class and representative action litigation, and other employment claims. Education I received his Bachelor of Arts in History, summa cum laude, with a minor in Public Affairs from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I earned his Juris Doctor from UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where he was awarded a Prosser Prize for his academic achievement. Experience As a former associate at Anderson Kill P.C., a Vault 150 leading mid-size law firm specializing in insurance coverage litigation, I gained significant experience litigating against insurance companies on behalf...

Mr. Saba’s practice consists of prosecuting and defending individual, class action and mass action claims. He has considerable experience in a wide range of federal and state civil litigation and trial actions, including consumer litigation, employment litigation, women’s rights, complex business and entertainment disputes, catastrophic injury claims, professional responsibility, copyright/trademark, civil rights, maritime, and municipal, landowner and product liability.

Attorney Hines represents employees with claims against their employers for harassment, discrimination, retaliation and Labor Code violations.

In 1991, after graduating near the top of his class, an insurance company hired Paul Zuckerman to be their lawyer. Paul approached the job with optimism. He believed the company’s advertisement and thought that he was hired to be there, like a good neighbor, for policyholders in need. However, Paul soon discovered that his work was merely padding the pockets of his employer, and not ensuring that injured people were compensated fairly. Thus, Paul, with his law school classmate John Carpenter, established a new kind of law firm: A law firm that only represents injured people against insurance companies. Paul...

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...

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.

Attorney Rupal represents employees, employers and healthcare professionals.

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

Greg Stefflre, Esq. Greg Stefflre is currently Chief Executive of Rail Delivery Services, a motor carrier that pioneered the use of cutting edge technology in providing drayage and distribution in southern California from 1981 until the present. Trained and having practiced over forty years as a transportation lawyer, Greg has been involved in many of our industries’ most progressive institutions and activities, including: Co-founder of the California Trucking Association Intermodal Ateering Committee (now, Conference); Co-founder of the American Trucking Association’s Intermodal Conference and Chairman 1990-1991; Member, American Trucking Associations Policy & Finance Committee...

Tim Owen is a senior attorney on Varner & Brandt's Riverside office Business Litigation Team. Tim has over 25 years of experience as a trial attorney in state and federal courts in California and New York. His practice and expertise covers employment, labor, complex business disputes, complex litigation, products liability, and professional negligence, as well as appellate matters.

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...

Thirty five years of experience successfully handling complex civil litigation and appeals for businesses and high net worth individuals. Practice areas include both transactional work and litigation in the following areas: contract law, employment law, partnerships, corporations, real estate, construction.

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...

West Covina Real Estate Lawyer and Business Law Attorney Stephen E. Ensberg has represented clients for more than 30 years.

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...