Bryan L. Hawkins

Bryan L. Hawkins

SACRAMENTO - Bryan L. Hawkins’ practice focuses on employment-related litigation; counseling employers on employment-related issues, including employment handbooks and best practices to eliminate bias, discrimination and harassment; counseling on labor issues, such as advising employers on how to effectively respond to union organizing campaigns, negotiate collective bargaining agreements, and manage the employer/union relationship.

He is a member of Stoel Rives’ pro bono committee and part of the team that represents a transgender inmate alleging abuse in California’s prison.

Hawkins represents many clients. Among them is a client in the medical industry.

“I have a healthcare client who operates here in Sacramento and they had a couple cases,” Hawkins said. “One case involved alleged sexual harassment.”

The plaintiff filed the complaint, Hawkins went on to say. “We did some discovery, took some depositions and got this case settled for a really good amount.”

“I think what’s good about that case is the allegations of harassment were because the plaintiff was a member of the LGBTQ+ community and, the client really took offense to the allegations,” he continued. “We basically were able to be pretty aggressive in our defense and get it resolved for a very low amount.”

Hawkins — who is president of the Sacramento County Bar Association — said he is seeing a trend of unnecessary lawsuits being filed.

“I’m finding that there are a lot of frivolous claims being filed, but I think what’s kind of bigger and quite possibly more important is that there are a lot of claims involving disputes which are relatively minor and could easily be resolved with a conversation without getting attorneys involved,” he said. ”But they’re not getting resolved in that way. People are just jumping to file the lawsuit.”

Hawkins helps coordinate SCBA programs to support member career development and challenge the bar to address diversity issues in the profession.

In addition to his SCBA presidency, Hawkins’ legal industry positions include serving on advisory committees for the Sacramento County Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

He was also named “2021 Member of the Year” by the Davis Chamber of Commerce for counseling community business leaders in California employment law.

--Douglas Saunders