Levy Vinick Burrell Hyams LLP

Four women who each had practiced employment law on average for over 20 years founded the firm in 2010. The idea, said partner Sharon R. Vinick, was to create a collaborative workplace committed to representing employees across the socioeconomic spectrum. The firm's website features an image of Rosie the Riveter, an enduring World War II emblem of the rise of the female workforce, asking, fist raised, "Who Would Rosie Hire?"

Partner Leslie F. Levy focuses on women who face discrimination or harassment on the job and the victims of sexual abuse by professionals such as doctors, therapists and teachers. Vinick recalls her favorite retort as a child to any perceived injustice, no matter how small: "That's not fair," leading her parents to tell her she should be a lawyer.

Partner Darci E. Burrell is noted for her novel application of "aiding and abetting" claims in employment discrimination cases, including in one suit against a psychiatrist who held that an African-American woman was unfit for duty because she kept raising racial discrimination claims in the workplace.

More than two decades ago, partner Jean K. Hyams left a successful career in high-tech marketing to become a civil rights lawyer. She believes it is the job of employment lawyers to hold employers accountable for the damage and devastation that workers suffer when their civil rights are violated.

"We're very happy with our practice and honored to represent the brave employees who come forward," Vinick said. Over the past 12 months, Levy Vinick has won two multimillion-dollar trial verdicts and in is in the thick of litigation for marquee clients including Oakland Raiders cheerleaders seeking to enforce a $1.25 million settlement with the team; a law partner suing Sedgwick LLP; and the executive assistant suing ex-UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Sujit Choudhry.

In March 2016, a jury awarded $2.3 million to Todd Milan over claims he'd been fired as a firefighter in retaliation for whistleblowing and because of his post-traumatic stress disorder. Levy, Vinick and Burrell were his lawyers. Milan v. City of Vallejo, FCS042585 (Solano Super. Ct., filed Oct. 30, 2013). The city has appealed; its opening brief at the 1st Appellate District is due Nov. 14.

In November 2015, a jury returned $3.05 million verdict for a woman who claimed she'd been fired by a hospital in retaliation for her disability and for taking medical leave. Burrell was Patricia Metzner's lead counsel. Metzner v. The Permanente Medical Group, RG13702356 (Alameda Super. Ct., filed Nov. 7, 2013).

The Oakland Raiders case, a class action in which cheerleaders Lacy T. and Sarah G. alleged the team broke state labor laws by failing to pay minimum wage, settled in 2014. The deal has been stalled by claims by an attorney for another cheerleader who threatened to "blow up the settlement" if the parties did not pay him a $400,000 fee, according to a sworn declaration by a lawyer for the Raiders.

"This has nothing to do with the football team. The Raiders would have been happy to pay the settlement years ago," Vinick said. "This lawyer has inserted himself into the case and delayed and stalled, seeking to capitalize on the situation by purporting to object on the ground that the settlement figure was too low. He's trying to capitalize on the situation." A hearing on the objection, which Vinick and the Raiders' counsel oppose jointly, is set for Nov. 17. Lacy T. v. The Oakland Raiders, RG14710815, Alameda Super. Ct., filed Jan. 22, 2014).

Sedgwick partner Traci Ribeiro of the firm's Chicago office sued the San Francisco-based firm over claims that when she asked the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate systemic gender discrimination at the firm including gender pay inequities, Sedgwick sued her in arbitration. "She alleges that due to her gender she was not promoted to equity partner and denied equal pay in retaliation," Vinick said. Ribeiro v. Sedgwick LLP, CGC-16-553231 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed July 26, 2016). On Aug. 10, Sedgwick moved the case to the Northern District.

Vinick said client Tyann Sorrell's complaint against Choudhry and the UC Board of Regents is in discovery in Alameda County Superior Court, complicated by the ex-dean's federal affirmative action suit, filed in September against the regents. "From a legal perspective, my client is not a party to that action, but taking a broader view, is Ms. Sorrell going to be pulled in as a witness? We'll see." Sorrell v. Regents of the University of California, RG16806802 (Alameda Super. Ct., filed March 8, 2016).

"We represent employees who have problems in the workplace," Vinick said, "and these things bring a lot of press attention."

— John Roemer