Anthony J. Oncidi 

Anthony J. Oncidi leads Proskauer’s labor and employment practice on the West Coast and he co-chairs the practice firmwide. One reason he enjoys the field is because it’s always so topical.

Legal issues related to employment frequently are “at the top of everyone’s mind in terms of recent developments and what’s coming next,” he said. A recent example is the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June that largely bans affirmative action in college admissions. The decision’s reasoning could have implications for the workplace and in other areas.

Oncidi’s own caseload shows up in the news a bit more than most because he is one of the top employment attorneys for the entertainment and media industries. He is the lead counsel representing the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the organization that awards the Grammys, in all employment matters, including counseling and litigation. Two years ago, he led the academy’s defense in a high-profile dispute with its former CEO. More recently, he has been “working behind the scenes on significant matters” for the client, he said.

For more than 20 years, Oncidi has been counsel to top talent agency CAA. He has been representing CAA Sports for several years in a dispute with a high-profile NFL agent it terminated. That matter is largely concluded, he said.

He also has been doing more work recently with some of Proskauer’s sports league clients. “I’ve really enjoyed litigating as well as providing advice and counseling … and some investigatory work over the past year for those clients,” he said. “That’s been very rewarding.”

In addition to litigating matters in state and federal court and conducting arbitrations, counseling clients and conducting investigations for them is an important part of his practice. Increasingly, however, it’s previous nonclients who come to Oncidi and the firm to investigate discrimination or harassment allegations. “Companies may want to avoid having their long-term counsel do an investigation on their behalf because the plaintiff will, of course, always allege that there’s a conflict,” he said. “As a result, employers that have no prior relationship with the firm are becoming a larger share of the client base each year.”

On the litigation side, he is scheduled to go to trial in April, representing Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on a whistleblower claim that an appellate court revived after he’d won dismissal of the case on summary judgment. Whistleblower claims are increasingly common, he said. “We’re seeing almost every employee now try to color themselves in some way or another as a whistleblower with regard to certain claims.” Sakellis v. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, BC653918 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed March 14, 2017).

But generally, he tries to confine disputes to arbitration or resolve them before lawsuits are filed.

Oncidi is a big proponent of arbitration, a topic he has written and spoken to groups of employers about quite often. Large single-plaintiff jury verdicts — some exceeding $100 million — “have been stalking the land lately, especially since the COVID pandemic,” he said. “From my perspective … there’s literally no more reliable antidote to prevent catastrophic outcomes other than arbitration.”

Most arbitrators deliver fair awards, Oncidi added. “You don’t have the passion and prejudice element most often with an arbitrator as compared to what can happen with a jury.”

— Don DeBenedictis