Anne B. Shaver

Shaver is a leader in Leiff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein's employment law practice group. And she's a pioneer in working away from the office. Long before the coronavirus pandemic arrived, she persuaded the firm to let her work remotely full time from Denver, Colo., where she wanted to be near family. She's been there since early 2018.

"One partner did it before me, so I was not the first," she said, "and we caused a few waves. But the firm said let's give it a try, and it has gone well. When the virus hit, many of my colleagues were shell-shocked to find themselves working from home. We'll see how perceptions about that change now."

Shaver is co-lead on the firm's plaintiffs team in a major and significant gender discrimination class action targeting Wall Street investment banking heavyweight Goldman Sachs & Co. The complaint contends the company has systematically favored its male associates and vice presidents at the expense of their female counterparts. Chen-Oster v. Goldman Sachs & Co., 1:10-cv-06950 (S.D.N.Y., filed Sept. 15, 2010).

"We filed in 2010 and the next year the Supreme Court ruled in Dukes v. Walmart that a large number of female employees could not be a class. People threw up their hands and that's the end of gender class actions. A few of us said we will keep trying, though post-Dukes, cases have largely gone defendants' way," Shaver said.

Even so, in March 2018 the court certified the Chen-Oster class. "We had a huge record of the company's boys club atmosphere, and this is the biggest such class certified post-Dukes , which is why it's a big deal," she said. Goldman Sachs fought back by immediately seeking to remove more than half of the 3,220 class members to arbitration.

"Goldman waited until post-certification to move to compel arbitration," Shaver said. "We argue that's an unfair strategic litigation move and that they waived arbitration by failing to bring it up at the certification stage. It's egregious to try to backdoor their way out of the case. If they succeed, this will become the new defense template in such cases."

The magistrate judge overseeing these pre-trial maneuvers gave a mixed ruling on the arbitration move in March 2020; both sides are appealing to the trial judge. A decision is expected this summer. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, nearly 1,400 class members remain in the case for whom no arbitration motion was filed.

Shaver has been studying labor and employment issues since college at UC Santa Cruz. "Some of us became allies with campus workers. Now, plaintiff class action work is a perfect fit for me."

-- John Roemer