Cheryl D. Orr 

Cheryl D. Orr leads the international labor and employment practice at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, and she is the managing partner of the San Francisco office. She joined the firm in 2007. She concentrates her work on defending clients in class, collective and PAGA actions and in complex single-plaintiff cases.

She’s been an employment law specialist since 1988; she noted that her Columbia Law School class is celebrating its 35th reunion in early June. “If I weren’t in employment law, I probably wouldn’t still be a lawyer,” she said. “I like the people. The stories are never quite the same, and you get to work with any kind of industry that hires employees.”

Orr added that although the pandemic was a time chiefly spent advising clients with safety concerns and workforce management issues, including reductions in force, the fallout from those days continues.

“A fair amount of litigation came out of that, and now the backlogs in the courts are clearing and trials are going forward. I’m a litigator, so it’s music to my ears.”

Orr is careful not to identify clients. For one nonprofit, she recently represented the group and its corporate officers after they were sued in state court by a former CEO on claims including whistleblower retaliation. Her successful demurrer eliminated most of the claims without leave to amend.

She represents a luxury retailer, handling several class and PAGA suits, including one by a former employee alleging misclassification as exempt. A trial is set for September.

In another, a plaintiff seeks to represent all outside sales employees allegedly misclassified as exempt. Orr said she successfully compelled the plaintiff’s individual claims to arbitration and had the class claims dismissed while the PAGA action was stayed.

For a supplier of industrial goods, Orr and colleagues are defending against eight class or PAGA actions alleging wage and hour violations across the state along with other single-plaintiff cases in California and Hawaii.

An American multinational manufacturing company has retained Orr to defend a potential class action over alleged failure to pay minimum wages and overtime, failure to provide meal periods and rest periods and other employment claims. Orr was able to limit discovery in state court to the individual plaintiff. A staffing agency involved removed the suit to federal court; Orr has a motion to dismiss pending.

“I truly enjoy the work,” she said. “Everything for us is client-driven, and we pride ourselves on getting the best result we can for them. In part, it’s because I’m a very good negotiator. We had a recent case with a demand for $8 million and we ended up paying them $7,000.”

— John Roemer