Lynne Hermle  

Lynne Hermle has been highly regarded for a decade as the litigator companies in Silicon Valley and across the country want defending them when they have to go to trial against ex-employees. Over the last half-dozen years, she scored well-known jury verdicts for SpaceX and the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins.

She also has represented tech companies like Microsoft and Genentech and retailers like The Gap and Pottery Barn. Currently, she is defending Kirkland & Ellis and Goldman Sachs in gender discrimination matters and Cisco Systems in an unusual lawsuit alleging discrimination based on caste.

But contrary to her expectations last year, Hermle has no trials set for 2023. “For the first time in quite a while, I’m not going to have a trial,” she said. “Which I’m frankly kind of enjoying.”

Instead, she is working behind the scenes with clients on matters involving executive separations and strategic restructuring. “In an economy like this, you’re always deep in a layoff advice situation,” she said.

“That’s the beauty of an employment practice. We’re busy when the economy is strong, and we’re busy when the economy is not strong.”

The busiest side of her practice is representing employers against high-stakes, high-profile lawsuits brought by individuals. Hermle said those sorts of claims may be up this year because with the economy down, there are more terminations, and the fired executives are having more trouble finding new jobs.

In February, she settled a gender discrimination lawsuit filed against the stock management software company Carta by its former vice president of marketing. Kramer v. Carta, CGC20585478 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed July 21, 2020).

Hermle generally won’t discuss pending cases. But she is defending Kirkland in a sex discrimination lawsuit brought by a former intellectual property associate. Kovalenko v. Kirkland & Ellis LLP, 3:22-cv-05990 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 11, 2022).

In the case involving caste discrimination, Hermle is up against the state Civil Rights Department. California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Cisco Systems, Inc., 20CV372366 (Sta. Clara Super. Ct., filed Oct. 16, 2020).

She is also defending employers against class actions. Earlier this year, she settled what may be the oldest employment case in the country after only taking over as lead counsel in May 2022. Under the deal preliminarily approved last month, Goldman Sachs will pay $280 million to resolve claims on behalf of 2,800 past and present female employees who accused the Wall Street bank of systematically underpaying and under-promoting women. Chen-Oster v. Goldman, Sachs & Co. LLC, 1:10-cv-06950 (S.D. N.Y., filed Sept. 15, 2010).

Coming up, Hermle said, “I think we’ll see many more class actions on equal pay and transparency issues. It’s a big issue for regulators and a big issue for employers, particularly California employers.”

— Don DeBenedictis