Liat Yamini

Not every fourth-grader knows they're going to be an attorney one day - but Yamini did.

That motivation was "rooted in the sense of justice and doing the right thing," said Yamini, the hiring partner at Jones Day.

For more than a decade, she has represented clients in labor union and employment matters.

"What happens in the workplace is extremely important," she said. "I'm very much a people person. Labor employment affords me that opportunity, while helping employers do the right thing."

"There is an aspect of it that's so personal - whether someone feels harassed or discriminated against," Yamini said. "However those allegations shake out is just one dimension of the issue. Hearing people talk about them is just so interesting. Being able to help them work through those problems is my calling."

Along with legal duties, Yamini functions as an investigator, which she considers a welcome challenge.

One of Yamini's more recent accomplishments was on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

The center requested coordination of four overlapping wage/hour class and representative lawsuits filed against it in Kern, Contra Costa and Los Angeles counties over three months in 2019. Her firm negotiated dismissal of the class claims in December. A petition to coordinate was granted in March, according to Jones Day. The coordinated proceeding is now before Judge Ann I. Jones of Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Yamini's is also handling to arbitrations originally filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court: Swanger v. Ecolab and Mendoza v. Ecolab, BC699634 (L.A. Super. Ct. filed March 26, 2018). The plaintiffs sued Ecolab on several counts, including disability discrimination, failure to provide reasonable accommodation, harassment and retaliation.

Yamini moved to compel arbitration in both lawsuits, which the judge granted in July and August 2018. A post arbitration status conference is scheduled for August, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court website.

-- Karen Weil