Apalla Chopra

Chopra balances her active labor and employment practice with extensive leadership roles as co-chair of O'Melveny's Litigation Department, co-chair of the Labor and Employment group, and chair of the Colleges and Universities Industry Group. She handles complex multi-plaintiff and class action litigation, counseling work and sensitive internal investigations into allegations of employee misconduct.

During her 30-year career, Chopra has seen a lot of changes in labor and employment law. It's a dynamic area that is constantly evolving in response to politics and social norms, she said. As an example, she cited the racial reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd.

"We saw an increase in how it is that companies think about and handle race-related issues in the workplace," Chopra said. "I've seen more lawsuits, more investigations, more policy debate over how it is that companies should better address these issues, which are incredibly hard because much of what we're dealing with can be baked in. So we're analyzing systems to try to address race-related issues, or gender-related issues. "We had a number of clients who were much more interested, focused and willing to do the work as a result of what occurred in this country."

Whereas she used to handle more litigation, these days Chopra conducts a lot of investigations. In July 2021, she was retained by Syracuse University to conduct an internal investigation into student allegations of misconduct by the coaching staff of a women's basketball program at the university. She led an investigation team that conducted over 55 witness interviews with students, coaches and school administrators. The team made recommendations to improve the program's environment and culture, including ways the university could improve its systems to identify, escalate or address concerns from student athletes in the future.

Two important aspects of such investigations, she said, are to conduct them with both sensitivity and an eye toward diversity.

"Who shows up to conduct the investigation matters," she said. "It impacts the ability to get the information, because an investigator will be more effective if they are able to ensure a deeper understanding of all perspectives when digging into the facts. That is a really important part of what I do when I approach my investigations."

She also recognizes that sexual misconduct cases, in particular, are difficult and painful for parties on both sides.

"These cases have impacts on the reputations of all involved, and it's really high-stakes, sensitive and difficult work," Chopra said. "I hope with every investigation that I leave, the workplace I've looked into a little bit improved. For any lawyer, that's something that is really satisfying-- to have an impact, even if it is incremental. And some cases are incredibly impactful."

- JenniferChungKlam