Koray J. Bulut

Earlier in life, Bulut set his sights on the U.S. Foreign Service.

Such a decision made sense for someone with a bachelor's degree in political science, after all.

He was officially on the list after passing the Foreign Service exam - but around the same time, Bulut was in his first year of the University of Minnesota Law School.

Today, the San Francisco-based attorney represents single-plaintiff clients in employment mobility, non-compete clauses and trade secret litigation.

"I'll get a phone call from a client, for example, saying they want to hire someone from a competing firm and make sure it's squeaky clean," Bulut said.

He has also advised and represented corporate boards on delicate matters, such as sexual harassment allegations.

In the age of #metoo, "a board is looking for candid advice and an honest assessment," Bulut said. "We're going to bring in an outside investigator and get the report back. How that report goes will dictate the next steps, or are we able to rely on the findings of that investigation and stand firm?"

Bulut represented the defendant in Vazquez vs. MC Electronics LLC 34-2017-00220907 (Sacramento Super. Ct. filed, Oct. 19, 2017). The class action involved unpaid wages and alleged violations of meal and rest periods. The court approved a settlement in mid-2019, and allowed money to be disbursed.

Bulut said the case was challenging because MC Electronics had been acquired and some of the original decision-makers were no longer working there. To overcome that challenge, Bulut said he and his colleague "did our best to track down former employees and tried to get their cooperation in helping us fill in the gaps in the factual record. Additionally, we conducted our own site visits to get a better sense of the production line and how work schedules were maintained."

His client "was pleased to have this behind them, and that was all that matters in the end," Bulut said.

After nearly 20 years in employment law, Bulut said he still finds the work interesting.

"There's a human element to employment cases which keeps you engaged and invested in the result," he said.

-- Karen Weil