Employment & Labor Attorney Associate (Sonoma)

There's a version of California employment law that only exists in the Bay Area, and you're either doing it or you're watching it from the wrong seat.

The companies here don't look like the rest of the country. They're pre-IPO startups doing their first RIF and realizing they have no severance framework. They're public tech companies navigating board-level investigations into workplace culture. They're growth-stage businesses acquiring competitors and discovering the target has wage & hour exposure baked into its contractor model. The employment issues in this market are woven into corporate transactions, regulatory risk, and C-suite strategy in ways that most BigLaw L&E groups never touch.

But at your current firm, you're doing California employment defense and nothing else. Wage & hour class actions, PAGA, single-plaintiff claims — the work is real, but it's the same playbook on repeat. You aren't advising on the employment dimensions of an acquisition. You aren't counseling founders on equity compensation disputes. You aren't getting pulled into the boardroom when a workforce restructuring needs to happen in 72 hours.

An AmLaw 50 firm is building out its employment and labor team across its California offices, with a strong preference for San Francisco and Palo Alto. They want someone who can litigate California employment matters and advise on the transactional and counseling side. This isn't a class action factory — it's a practice that sits at the intersection of employment law and corporate strategy.

The work includes:

Defending complex wage & hour class actions, PAGA claims, and single-plaintiff matters in California state and federal court Advising on employment aspects of M&A transactions and corporate restructurings Counseling tech and growth-stage companies on California employment compliance, workforce planning, and executive employment matters Class/representative action strategy from pre-litigation through resolution

What you bring:

2+ years of California employment litigation experience at a major law firm Interest in or exposure to transactional employment work (M&A diligence, workforce restructuring, executive employment) Strong legal writing and analytical skills California bar admission

What you get:

A practice that blends litigation and transactional employment work — not just one or the other Clients that are tech companies, PE-backed platforms, and high-growth businesses, not a random docket of retail wage & hour cases Cravath scale ($260K-$390K depending on class year)

Apply here directly or send your resume confidentially to srushing@laterallink.com