Leo Q. Li

LOS ANGELES - Leo Q. Li is a labor and employment partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, where he focuses on wage & hour defense. He has successfully defeated class certification and obtained summary judgment in several class actions. Clients include domestic and foreign employers in an array of industries including industrial manufacturing, distribution and manufacturing logistics, education, insurance, aerospace, retail, restaurant, natural resources and professional environmental services.

Born and raised in China, Li said his wish to become a lawyer was inspired by one of the few American television shows available there, the legal drama series "Matlock." His parents brought him to the U.S. when he was 14. "I really was interested in the U.S. judicial system," he said. "I wanted to represent clients."

Li got a clerk job at Seyfarth and met partner Jon D. Meer. "He took me under his wing and became a best friend," Li said. "I knew I wanted to work here after law school."

In an ongoing employment case, Li has successfully moved to compel arbitration of the wrongful termination claims by a former USC professor who was denied tenure. The professor was allowed to file under pseudonymous initials. C.D. v. University of Southern California et al., 21STCV27760 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed July 28, 2021).

Li said the battle was hard fought over the professor's efforts to circumvent her employment agreement, including arguments that she was defrauded into signing the arbitration clause and that JAMS is biased due to its ongoing business relationship with the university.

"The court gave the plaintiff multiple opportunities to amend her complaint," Li said. After the judge tentatively ruled against the professor's original arguments, she added a new sexual harassment claim and contended that such claims are not within the scope of the arbitration agreement. But in May 2022, Li persuaded the court to conclude that the sexual harassment claim was predicated on her more general gender discrimination claim, which the arbitration agreement covers.

"It's a victory, but we still have a long road ahead of us in arbitration," Li said.

In a massive case that consolidated several wage and hour class actions against Pizza Hut franchises, Li prepared the winning brief that defeated certification of a potential class of more than 25,000 delivery drivers who claimed they were not fully reimbursed for their mileage expenses when making deliveries. In re: Southern California Pizza Wage and Hour Cases, JCCP 4725 (Orange Co. Super. Ct., filed July 9, 2012).

Li then worked with the Seyfarth team to successfully argue that a remaining portion of the drivers' claims was time-barred.

"The case was in litigation so long that it helped us narrow and then eliminate the claims. We're fortunate to have a client who trusted us to fight for them all the way through," Li said.