Val Verde Employment Lawyers

As a trial attorney, Armond Marcarian has tried several cases in the last few years to verdict, including his victory before a Kern County jury in November 2007 where he obtained a judgment for $1,000,000 for his client.* In September 2009, Armond successfully defended his client at trial in a lawsuit where the plaintiff was seeking over $9,000,000 in damages. Armond has also arbitrated complex business disputes and medical malpractice cases; including an arbitration against Kaiser Permanente which resulted in a favorable decision in January 2008. While there are many great courtroom attorneys, Armond...

Zachary Sempers was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Zachary chose to go into employment law on behalf of employees based on his own experience in his previous career as a software engineer. Shortly before starting his employment law practice, he had an employer who would not pay him his wages. Although it was only two weeks' wages, wage theft is wage theft. While he knew he couldn't personally make his employer pay his wages, he knew that the law could, either through the Labor Commissioner's office or the Courts. So began his journey from software engineer to Workers' rights...

Michael Burgis, Esq., is a knowledgeable, experienced, and aggressive trial attorney who focuses on obtaining maximum results for the injured. Mr. Burgis’s current focus is workers’ compensation and employment law, but his practice also includes handling personal injury cases.

A California native, Mr. Burgis earned a B.S. degree in Economics with a minor in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2003. In 2008, Mr. Burgis earned a J.D. from Southwestern Law School and was admitted to the California Bar.

Mr. Burgis began his career working with Glauber Berenson, a well-known and respected worker’s compensation law firm. During his...

I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and pursued my undergraduate studies at the Universidad de Los Andes in Merida, where I obtained a dual degree in Arts and Literature. In 1981, I relocated to the United States to continue my education in Applied Linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where I received my Master’s Degree in 1984. Following this, I enrolled in the UCLA School of Law, earning my Juris Doctor degree in 1987, and subsequently, I was admitted to the California State Bar. Since 1991, my law partner and husband, Rick Hicks, and I have dedicated our...

Founding Partner John McNicholas has more than five decades of experience representing plaintiffs in the areas of catastrophic personal injury, employment law, class actions, sexual abuse and other consumer-oriented matters. He is a recognized leader with more than 150 jury verdicts and 20 reported appellate decisions in copyright infringement, breach of contract, medical malpractice, pharmaceutical and aviation cases.

Andrew J. Malatesta is the founder of Malatesta Law. Mr. Malatesta graduated from the number one law school in Southern California, the UCLA School of Law. After becoming a member of the California State Bar, Mr. Malatesta worked under several preeminent attorneys, before founding Malatesta Law. Malatesta Law only represents employees in employment law matters – that is it. Because of the narrow focus of Mr. Malatesta’s legal practice, Mr. Malatesta has a deep understanding of California employment law and knows what it takes to successfully litigate a California employee’s case. Mr. Malatesta represents employees because he is passionate about protecting employees'...

Attorney Jeffrey R. Lamb practices in all areas of civil litigation, including personal injury, civil rights, medical malpractice, elder abuse, wrongful death, employment and mass tort actions. He has dedicated his career to representing victims against large establishments like insurance companies.

Jonathan Seber was raised in Florida and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Miami with a degree in International Studies and Political Science. While in Miami, Mr. Seber worked on various policy initiatives and regional trade agreements at the Interamerican Ethanol Commission and the Florida Free Trade Area of the Americas. Mr. Seber received his Juris Doctorate from Fordham University School of Law in New York City. He then went on to work at the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, where he assisted in drafting model legislation on ballot security and chain of custody procedures for New...

Cameron Fredman practices in the areas of wrongful death and catastrophic injury, civil rights, inhabitability cases, and legal malpractice. Prior to joining McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP, Cameron Fredman was an associate at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, where he practiced in the general litigation group and handled cases involving commercial litigation and class actions. Cameron received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Southern California and his law degree from Loyola Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Loyola Law Review. His law school awards include graduating Order of the Coif,...

Barry Kellman has been the Managing Partner of Kellman & Kleiman (and its predecessor firm) since 2006. During that time, the firm has become one of the premier employment/business boutique firms in Los Angeles. The firm places special emphasis on the needs of small and mid-size technology companies, and its entertainment practice includes movie studios, production companies and talent.

Mr. Choe began his legal career in workers’ compensation representing insurance companies and employers. As a defense attorney, he became well versed in the nuances of worker’s compensation laws allowing him to aggressively represent his clients. The Law Offices of Anthony Choe was founded to provide the same aggressive representation to injured workers. Mr. Choe is able to use his experience in dealing with insurance companies and employers for the benefit of injured workers to effectively obtain medical treatment and maximize recovery. What sets the Law Offices of Anthony Choe apart from other firms...

Ethan D. Kirschner is an experienced litigator with clients in California, throughout the United States, and overseas. Originally from Wisconsin, Mr. Kirschner was a champion high school and college debater. He has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School, and received an LL.M. in intellectual property law from the University of California, Berkeley.


Mr. Kirschner has been practicing law since 2005. He is licensed to practice law in California.

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...

Annabel Blanchard is an associate attorney who represents individuals in wage and hour class actions and representative actions under the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). Prior to joining Blackstone, PC, Ms. Blanchard worked at a respected plaintiff’s-side employment law firm, where she focused on obtaining court approval of large-scale class and PAGA settlements. Before practicing wage-and-hour employment law, Ms. Blanchard worked at boutique law firms providing estate planning services to families, with a focus on special needs planning and conservatorship. As a part of her estate planning practice, Ms. Blanchard served on the Los Angeles Superior Court “Court Appointed...

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...

Noriya Bragg is an Associate Attorney at Blackstone Law. Prior to joining Blackstone Law, she worked as a Law Clerk for a highly respected civil rights firm in Los Angeles where she gained experience working on matters ranging from employment discrimination to police misconduct. Ms. Bragg holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science with a minor in Philosophy of Law from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Ms. Bragg earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Davis School of Law (Martin Luther King Jr. Hall), where she worked as a Research Assistant to Professor Irene O. Joe and...

Ashley Cruz is an employment attorney who has spent her entire career pursuing justice and advocating for people across the United States. Her passion for upholding, asserting, and defending the rights of others has guided her throughout her career. Ashley has represented children in abuse and neglect proceedings, individuals and families in deportation proceedings, and workers actively seeking legal recourse. Her self-imposed requirement for nothing less than excellent representation, coupled with her dedication to helping others, has received praise from clients, judges, mediators, and fellow professionals. Ashley litigates in the area of labor and employment law. She has handled harassment, discrimination,...

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...

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.

Tareq M. Hishmeh was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2004. He attended Loyola Marymount University, where he earned a degree in Political Science. While at Loyola Marymount, he interned in the House of Representatives and at the US Commerce Department. In the Summer of 2000 he completed one semester of study at the prestigious Queens College at Oxford University, England. Mr. Hishmeh earned his law degree at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. While at Loyola, Mr. Hishmeh, was an active member of Student Bar Association, competed in the American Bar Association Negotiation Competition, served as a...

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...