Ellen M. Bronchetti

Bronchetti represents employers in state and federal employment disputes involving wage and hour, trade secret misappropriation and whistleblower issues along with cases over wrongful termination, harassment and discrimination claims. She is a frequent speaker at events focused on gender diversity, including at McDermott’s annual Women in the C-Suite event.

In a case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, Bronchetti and colleagues prevailed in litigation for client Parker Drilling Management Services Ltd. in the face of novel claims by oil workers on drilling platforms on the outer Continental Shelf in the Santa Barbara Channel. The workers accused Parker of California wage and hour violations; the defendant contended that state law does not apply there.

The Supreme Court, voting 9-0, vacated a contrary opinion by a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel. Parker Drilling Management Services Ltd. v. Newton, 18-389 (U.S. S. Ct., op. filed June 10, 2019).

“This was one of the real highlights of my career,” Bronchetti said. “You work so hard and believe in your client’s position. California is a difficult place to win,” she added, referring to the circuit opinion that state wage and hour laws apply even at sea in the workplace at issue.

Bronchetti and her McDermott colleagues worked closely with lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis who handled the Supreme Court arguments, headed by veteran appellate litigator Paul D. Clement. Bronchetti flew to Washington, D.C., when the justices heard the case. She was impressed to see Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, who would write the opinion for the court, solicitously assist Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of her chair.

Thomas’ case left one claim unaddressed; that remaining part of the case is back before the 9th Circuit. “I hope they see it our way this time,” Bronchetti said. But she won’t forget her high court visit. “You sit there and realize the power of the work you do over people and on the state of the law,” she said.

— John Roemer