Lawrance Bohm

Bohm secured a jaw-dropping $185 million in November for client Rosario Juarez, who sued former employer AutoZone Stores Inc. in a pregnancy discrimination and retaliation jury trial in San Diego. It is understood to be the largest employment law damages award in American history, topping a prior $167 million Bohm won three years ago for a nurse in a sexual harassment and retaliation dispute.

While Bohm is negotiating with AutoZone lawyers for a likely reduced final payout to Juarez, he has snared subsequent wins. In June, for example, an Orange County jury awarded $538,000 for Bohm's client against EGumball Inc. in another pregnancy discrimination and retaliation case.

Bohm has a distinctive, colorful style, showing jurors overhead slides of Van Gogh's "Starry Starry Night," Pizza Hut commercials and high school football among other cultural references. With new offices throughout the state, the lawyer has been slowly expanding his private practice, which he opened in 2005 after a stint as an employment defense attorney at Jackson Lewis LLP.

- MATTHEW BLAKE