Genie E. Harrison 

Genie E. Harrison’s all-female-lawyer employment law boutique, Genie Harrison Law Firm, continued a string of prominent cases in 2023 with new blockbuster claims against the male-dominated world of professional football and a new class action alleging systemic sexual bias at the game developer of Pokemon Go and Ingress.

“I’m lucky to be in the position to pursue cases meaningful to women, backed by my strong team that is passionate about being in the forefront of change-making,” she said.

Her earlier wins have brought awards. In recognition of her work on the plaintiff team that won a $17 million settlement for survivors of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual battery, she was named Consumer Attorney of the Year for 2022 by the Consumer Attorneys Association of California. Rehal v. Weinstein et al., 1:18-cv-00674 (S.D. N.Y., filed Jan. 25, 2018).

And the firm Harrison founded in 2013 to promote women’s rights is fresh off the $100 million equal pay class settlement she attained with a video game maker over its “bro culture” of anti-female workplace hostility, discrimination and harassment. The deal Harrison struck last year was a tenfold improvement over the $10 million settlement proposed by previous plaintiff counsel. McCracken et al. v. Riot Games Inc. et al., 18STCV03957 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Nov. 6, 2018).

In July, Harrison sued San Francisco-based video game maker Niantic, Inc., whose Pokemon Go had grossed more than $6 billion in revenue by 2020. The complaint alleges that the company significantly devalues women and “fostered and maintained a Boys Club culture and environment” at the expense of female employees. Jane Doe et al. v. Niantic, Inc. et al., 23STCV15935 (L.A. Super. Ct, filed July 7, 2023).

“These are equal pay violations based on how the company holds women back while males are promoted quickly,” Harrison said.

She’s also in the early stages of a single-plaintiff complaint against the National Football League’s media arm on behalf of the first female vice president at NFL Media Group. The complaint alleges that Jennifer Love was retaliated against and eventually terminated for opposing and trying to remedy a discriminatory and hostile work environment. Love v. NFL Enterprises LLC et al., 23STCV08388 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed April 14, 2023).

“We know this is a male-dominated industry, but it is still shocking that her superiors were allowed to be so dismissive of women. Ms. Love was ignored and passed over time and time again — it sounds like behavior out of the 1950s,” Harrison said.

She noted that shortly after she filed the Love suit, the attorneys general of California and New York announced a joint investigation into the NFL’s workplace culture.

“It’s our mission and our goal and our expectation that workplace conduct is going to change,” Harrison said.

—John Roemer