Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Page 3
Sidley Austin Adds Partners to Labor, Employment Practice
By a MetNews Staff Writer
International law firm Sidley Austin announced yesterday that former Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton partners Douglas R. Hart, Jennifer B. Zargarof and Geoffrey D. DeBoskey have joined its Los Angeles office as partners in its labor and employment practice.
The firm said the three will focus on employment litigation, counseling and traditional labor work with an emphasis on wage and hour and employment discrimination class action litigation.
Brian J. Gold, global coordinator of Sidley’s labor and employment practice, said the additions “bring to the firm an extremely successful and comprehensive track record of defending employers in major class action litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels.”
Anne E. Rea, the member of the firm’s Management Committee responsible for its West Coast offices, said the enhancement of Sidley’s Los Angeles practice was “a strategic response to the substantial expansion and development of complex employment class action litigation, both in California and around the country.”
Hart has been practicing for more than 25 years and has represented several Fortune 100 companies as a wage and hour class action litigator.
Praising Sheppard Mullin, he told the MetNews that he “thoroughly enjoyed” his time there, but that he and his colleagues left because of the increasingly cross-border aspects of complex class action litigation, and the opportunities presented by Sidley Austin’s national and international presence.
Hart handles employment-related class action lawsuits on behalf of employers, including pay practice, disparate impact and intentional discrimination cases and pension plan cases. He also negotiates collective bargaining agreements and advises employers on labor relation issues and strategies to avoid litigation.
He was named “Attorney of the Year” by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for his efforts in defending the department in a high-profile gender discrimination class action, Bouman v. Baca, which was the largest employment class action in the county’s history at the time when it was concluded earlier this decade by a federal consent decree.
Hart is also currently lead counsel on a number of employment class action appeals pending before the California Supreme Court and the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He attended Montana State University and the University of Nebraska College of Law, and joined the State Bar in 1984.
Zargarof advocates for employers with a focus on class actions and other multi-plaintiff litigation, and defends companies in wage and hour, discrimination, wrongful termination and other employment-related matters at the trial and appellate levels.
She also counsels employers on personnel policies and procedures, employee discipline matters, employment contracts, and wage and hour issues across numerous industries, including retail, transportation, healthcare and financial services. A graduate of UCLA and New York University School of Law, she was admitted to the State Bar in 1999.
DeBoskey handles labor and employment law, with a focus on defending complex wage and hour class action cases. He represents a number of Fortune 500 companies in their employment law needs including class action litigation, disparate impact analysis and remediation, wrongful termination and harassment cases, and employment counseling.
He also has provided employment advice and transactional services to companies engaging in mergers, acquisitions, hirings and terminations.
DeBoskey attended college at UC Davis and law school at USC, and became a member of the State Bar in 2000. He also previously served as a law clerk to Ninth Circuit Judge Kim McClane Wardlaw.
Established in 1980, Sidley’s Los Angeles office has approximately 140 lawyers, making it one of the largest non-California based law offices in Los Angeles.
Copyright 2010, Metropolitan News Company