Gary T. Lafayette

Sanders Roberts • Oakland


Gary Lafayette has been defending employers and other businesses from his small, Oakland law firm for more than 30 years. Although he concentrates on trial work, he also handles his own appeals.


In fact, in 2002, he argued and won a housing discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Making the experience especially memorable, the usually silent Justice Clarence Thomas asked him a question. Department of Housing and Urban Development v. Rucker, 535 U.S. 125 (U.S., March 26, 2002).


In April, he merged Lafayette & Kumagai with L.A.-based Sanders Roberts, giving him statewide reach and bringing the firm up from six lawyers to 40.


Lafayette said he and his firm tend to specialize in trials and often are asked to step into a case for that purpose. "We get calls specifically, sometimes out of the blue, from clients who need a case tried," he said. "That's been happening for a long time."


Recently, he settled a case just before trial for regular client UPS. Three women who worked at a shipping facility alleged they had been sexually harassed and discriminated against by some of their male co-workers. They also claimed to have seen the others being harassed. Martin v. United Parcel Service Inc., 34-2017-00219292 (Sacto. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 19, 2017).


"I think at the end of the day, [the plaintiffs] realized there were some weaknesses in the case," Lafayette said. "It settled reasonably well for us."


He tried a disability discrimination and wrongful termination case for UPS in 2018, winning a unanimous verdict after the jury deliberated for about 12 hours. The plaintiff appealed that in October, but then finally dismissed her appeal in September 2022. Fuqua v. United Parcel Service Inc., 3:16-cv-01193 (N.D. Cal., filed March 10, 2016).


Lafayette also has regularly defends Alameda County in employment matters. He represented it recently in a trio of cases alleging racial harassment, discrimination and retaliation by supervisors in a county department. One case was in federal court, while the other two were in the superior court. He said he was able to settle all three late last year and early this year. Soublet v. County of Alameda, 4:18-cv-03738 (N.D. Cal., filed June 22, 2018).


Also, this year, he obtained favorable settlement for Shell Oil and PBF Energy in a pair of cases seeking "standby wages" for oil refinery workers while they wait to be called upon to fill in for absent workers. That pay "was never a bargained for as part of the bargaining process, but it then became a focal point of litigation," Lafayette said. DiMercurio v. Equilon Enterprises LLC, 3:19‐cv‐04029 (N.D. Cal., filed July 12, 2019).


Lafayette was a co-founder of the National Employment Law Council, whose members are lawyers of color who represent management in employment matters. "We do a lot of things to create a lot of community," he said. He also is active in the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms.