Donna Melby

Dozens of trials, closed cases, awards and honors have been associated with Melby's name during her 41 years in labor and employment practice.

She started handling product liability cases but was given the chance to try a sexual harassment case early on in her career. From there, she began to focus on labor and employment cases, particularly class actions, discrimination and trade secret litigation.

"I tell young lawyers that you never really know for sure where your practice is going to end up because it really depends on what kind of cases you find yourself working on," Melby said.

For the past few years Melby has represented a client facing a combined 23-plaintiff case that included allegations of civil rights violations, discrimination, retaliation, conspiracy and hostile work environment. She found herself litigating these cases in five federal jurisdictions across the U.S.

"We won dismissals of many of the claims, won some severance and venue motions and many cases were moved to many jurisdictions to the East, Northeast, Midwest and South," she said.

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of one of the cases, ruling for her client. Part of one remaining case goes to trial in the Northern District of California this year. Though Melby said her client has not paid monetary compensation in any case to date, it has been the beneficiary of sanctions and attorney fee awards in many of the cases.

Melby said this massive litigation would not have been possible without the team she initially assembled in 2012.

"One of the things that I'm most pleased about and genuinely proud of is the fact that we did this with a diverse team that was truly able to work seamlessly together and to support one another in times of high activity in different courts all at the same time," Melby said.

It also gave her the opportunity to work with and mentor some attorneys just starting their careers.

"It was gratifying to watch and be a part of the evolution of young lawyers from year one when they began their work on these cases until six to seven years later when they have developed so significantly in their careers and were such great colleagues to work with," Melby said.

"It's our responsibility as senior lawyers to make sure that the next generation is properly trained and feels prepared and ready to try cases for whenever they get that opportunity," Melby said.

As Melby's seven-year battle for her client wraps up, she said that this undertaking was a significant career experience despite the hectic schedule and constant traveling.

"I've learned things I might not have learned if I hadn't had the opportunity to litigate all of these cases at the same time, all over the country, with so many different jurisdictions," Melby said. "The thing I love about being a lawyer is that you never stop learning and that was certainly true with these cases."

For Melby, her labor and employment practice means she gets to help people feel safe and productive in their workplace where most people spend a large portion of their lives.

"People's lives at work are so much a part of their daily lives. It's an opportunity to really help people in a significant way, no matter which side of labor and employment you're on. Whether you're on the plaintiff side of the defense side, it's an opportunity to help make things better in the workplace," Melby said. "As lawyers, helping people is the best thing that we do and doing it well is the best reward."

-- Alexandra Applegate