Kashif Haque 

Two decades ago, Kashif Haque was a lawyer making money in the corporate world — but there was something missing. So he and an attorney friend who felt the same way opened their own employment law shop, named it Aegis Law, and began looking for plaintiff-side clients who needed help.

Today, their 17-lawyer firm files more cases under California’s Private Attorneys General Act than any other in the state. Last year, they and co-counsel collected $100 million in settlements for 900,000 allegedly misclassified California and Massachusetts delivery drivers at DoorDash Inc. over reimbursement, minimum wage and overtime claims. Marko et al. v. DoorDash, Inc., BC659841 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Apr. 23, 2017).

Haque said he and law partner Samuel A. Wong, a former Paul Hastings, LLP associate, have attained more than 50 seven- or eight-figure settlements in the last 12 months.

“I was a transactional lawyer who wasn’t getting career satisfaction,” said Haque, then a house counsel at PricewaterhouseCoopers Int’l Ltd. “You’re just shuttling money from one corporation to another. I was working in this tech world bubble, but an inner voice was speaking to me. I wanted to deal with real-world issues and spend time in the courtroom.”

At first, Haque added, the new Aegis Law partners took numerous individual matters. “I took cases that big-name lawyers rejected, and I had to fight on tough facts. We were on our own with our new firm, so I had no mentor. I was actually trained by litigating against and working with my opposing counsel. It took a few years.”

He played a key role, he said, in the mammoth 2021 settlement of more than $1.1 billion with USC over sexual assault claims by 702 plaintiffs against school gynecologist George Tyndall. Doe 5 et al. v. University of Southern California Board of Trustees et al., BC705677 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed May 25, 2018).

In December, Haque settled for $3.7 million in a class action by former workers at a mortgage company alleging claims under California’s labor and unfair competition laws. Valdez et al. v. Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. et al., 37-2018-00053677-CU-OE-CTL (San Diego Co. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 6, 2018).

“A very contentious case,” Haque said, noting that the defendant tried to settle directly with class members — a move rejected by the trial judge that led to a larger total win for the class.

“Once we figured out what we were doing, we started to get more class work,” Haque said. “Now, 20 years later, 90% of what we do is PAGA filings. I get to represent hourly workers at the bottom of the food chain. For them, we level the playing field.”

—John Roemer