Cheryl Orr and Kate Gold Named in Daily Journal’s Top Labor & Employment Lawyers 2018

San Francisco partner Cheryl Orr and Los Angeles partner Kate Gold have been named among the Daily Journal’s Top Labor & Employment Lawyers for 2018. The annual list recognizes California’s top attorneys who have made significant contributions in labor and employment law.

Cheryl’s profile noted her strength in forging long relationships with clients that trust her perspective on preventing litigation and fighting it when necessary. It also notes her behind-the-scenes work advising on internal policies and evolving areas of the law, such as defining independent contractors in the gig economy and adjusting to an increased focus on sexual harassment in light of #MeToo. “There’s a much higher focus on the area and it isn’t a reflection of whether a company has been a good citizen or not, it’s just a higher consciousness in our culture,” said Cheryl. “Companies of all sizes want to make sure that they are approaching anti-harassment and gender parity correctly.”

Kate’s profile noted her creative and innovative strategies in a federal age discrimination class action filed by aerospace engineers. After convincing the judge that the claimants had not exhausted their class and disparate impact claims at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before filing the class action, which resulted in a more narrow multi-plaintiff complaint, , Kate’s team defeated the claims at the trial court level by strategically sequenced summary judgment motions in the remaining single-plaintiff cases. Kate said that working with engineers, including many Ph.D. holders, “elevated the whole dialogue” of the case.