Alexander Morrison + Fehr LLP

Los Angeles

Litigation & appellate employment law

In 2020, when two partners departed from the well-regarded plaintiff-side labor and employment firm Alexander Krakow + Glick LLP, J. Bernard Alexander and his longtime colleagues Michael S. Morrison and Tracy L. Fehr decided to shift the monikers on the letterhead and rebrand themselves.

The result: Alexander Morrison + Fehr LLP. "We all got along so well we wanted to keep the momentum going," Morrison said. "There have been no significant changes, and the firm is blossoming," added Fehr, who handles appeals for her partners and other firms. A fourth partner, Joshua M. Arnold, is also on the team. "He is essential. He helps push through settlements in difficult cases, and that keeps the lights on," Alexander said.

Fehr is the co-editor of the California Employment Lawyers Association's monthly Bulletin, an employment law update.

In September, Fehr obtained a significant opinion regarding arbitration fees that allows a Jane Doe client to proceed to trial. After Doe sued a former manager for sexual harassment and assault, defendant Na Hoku, Inc. successfully compelled the case to arbitration -- but sent a check for the arbitration fee that arrived two days late. Doe moved to vacate the arbitration order; a trial judge denied the motion. But a state appellate panel reversed, holding that such dates are to be strictly enforced. Doe v. Superior Ct. (Na Hoku, Inc.), A167105 (1st DCA, op. filed Sept. 8, 2023).

"A really great opinion on a check-is-in-the-mail argument," Fehr said. "The check can't be received late. The client gets a trial, and it's a real victory for workers."

Morrison, who moved from of counsel at the firm's former incarnation to name partner now, said a strength is the shop's ability to work well with others. In June, he and his co-counsel got preliminary approval for a $7.5 million settlement in a data breach class action. In re UKG Inc. Cybersecurity Breach Litigation, 3:22-cv-00346 (N.D. Cal., filed Jan. 18, 2022).

"We saw the breach and we jumped on it right away, forming a coalition with five other firms, pushing for discovery and getting the defendant to the table quick to settle," he said. "We avoided a long debate over who the lead would be. It's much better to work together because when everyone files on top of each other, it just slows things down. This way, we're fast and nimble."

Alexander won verdicts of $600,000, $2 million and $7.99 million this year in cases over retaliation, disability discrimination and retaliation, respectively. Gallegos v. University of La Verne, 20STCV29478 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 4, 2020); McHaar v. FedEx Ground Package System, 20CV366270 (S. Clara Co. Super. Ct., filed April 27, 2020); Pierce v. East Bay Municipal Utility District, 3:21-cv-00346 (N.D. Cal., filed June 7, 2021).

As with Morrison, Alexander partnered with other firms to achieve the positive outcomes.

He added a $9.46 million jury award in another federal case in August. The complex facts required Alexander to persuade jurors that plaintiff Lowry McCray's 27 years of work ended with a wrongful termination after a medical leave of absence when McCray submitted a return-to-work medical note requesting an accommodation for his mental disability caused by his perception of adverse treatment in the workplace. McCray v. WestRock Services LLC et al., 2:21-cv-09853 (C.D. Cal., filed Dec. 22, 2021).

"The jury saw it as targeted termination in retaliation for his calling out racial discrimination," Alexander said.

--John Roemer