Carney R. Shegerian

For more than 20 years, Shegerian has helped those wronged by employers find relief for one simple reason: It feels good helping people.

"It's one of the few areas of the law where you can turn someone's life around," Shegerian said. "Every worker, every employee, every professional relies on their job for sustenance and confidence. It's part of our soul in America."

Shegerian also likes going to trial, he said. And with his track record, it's easy to see why. Shegerian has more than 70 jury trial victories, with many ending in multi-million dollar verdicts for his clients.

In March, Shegerian, along with sole practitioner and co-counsel Gary A. Dordick of Beverly Hills, secured a $7 million award for former Baldwin Park Police Chief Lili Hadsell. The jury voted 12-0 in favor of Hadsell, who sued the city department claiming that her 2013 ouster was politically motivated.

The city's first and only female police chief, Hadsell spearheaded efforts that she said saw Baldwin Park's crime rate drop every year during her tenure.

At trial, Dordick and Shegerian persuaded the jury that city councilman Richardo Pacheco colluded with then-Capt. Michael Taylor to undermine Hadsell and campaign for her firing once political affiliations shifted on the council. Hadsell v. City of Baldwin Park, BC548602 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 8, 2014).

"She fought gender discrimination left and right and did it with such class," Shegerian said. "It was a wonderful case to try."

Shegerian praised Dordick's work on the case, calling him "probably the best trial attorney in the United States." But the case posed an interesting challenge for Shegerian. It was the first time he'd tried a case with a co-counsel in which he wasn't the lead attorney.

"It was different, but it worked like clockwork," Shegerian said. "He resonated with her. He resonated with the jury and that's all I needed. Sometimes, it's hard to give away certain tasks because you're like, 'I can do this better,' but there was nothing like that because Gary is the best."

While happy to argue his case to juries, Shergerian said he's noticed how judges are becoming more adept at employment law. He attributes the sea change to the state Legislature's commitment to increase judicial funding and the proliferation of plaintiff employment litigation.

"We go before all these judges and they really have a sense of what the law is without having to brief them on every point," Shegerian said. "That certainly wasn't the case 15, 20 years ago."

-- Glenn Jeffers