Tamara S. Freeze

In her first jury trial, in 2014, Freeze won a $1.377 million verdict on behalf of an employee in a disability discrimination retaliation case. Mayo v. Community Development Commission, BC486184 (L.A. Super. Ct. Nov. 6, 2014).

The next year, in a California Fair Employment and Housing Act disability discrimination and failure to accommodate lawsuit, she won a $550,000 verdict on behalf of a custodian. Snead v. Chino Valley Unified School District, CIVRS1101184 (San Bernardino Super. Ct. June 17, 2015).

And in April, Freeze won a $25.1 million verdict in a whistleblower retaliation case that included $22.4 million in punitive damages. Babyak vs. Cardiovascular Systems Inc., BC601259 (L.A. Super. Ct. April 25, 2017). She brought the suit on behalf of a former medical device company sales manager, Steven Babyak, who was terminated from his position after he made several complaints of legal violations by the company. Freeze said her client’s testimony in the case pulled back the curtain on serious violations by the company that included “patient safety, Food and Drug Administration rule violations [and] Sarbanes-Oxley Act violations.”

Her successful focus on plaintiff employment law began after three years of working for a leading defense employment law firm immediately after graduating from law school.

“I realized that I have a plaintiff’s heart, that I would rather represent employees and try to obtain justice on their behalf and go against big corporations,” she said. “I would rather be on the side of the plaintiff when the verdict was announced.”

She launched her own law firm in 2009, with a laser focus on plaintiffs’ employment law. In 2013, she became the founding partner of Workplace Justice Advocates, a plaintiffs’ employment law firm. Cases involving unpaid wages, discrimination, harassment retaliation and whistleblowing are her main areas.

Outside the courtroom, Freeze currently serves as mentorship committee co-chair for the California Employment Lawyers Association, a statewide organization including about 1,200 attorneys who devote the majority of their practices to representing workers in individual and class actions.

Herself a first-generation immigrant from Russia, Freeze came to the United States as a teen in 1997 to attend college. She said she has a special place in her heart for “immigrants who are struggling here and underserved,” as illustrated by her volunteer work with the Orange County Korean American Bar Association, a group that advances a wide range of legal issues affecting the Korean-American community.

— Michele Chandler