Robin J. Samuel


Baker McKenzie • Los Angeles


Robin J. Samuel leads Baker McKenzie LLP's U.S. labor and employment team. He is co-chair of the firm's workforce redesign service line, and he is a steering committee member for the firm's North American employment and compensation practice. He has more than 30 years of practice.


"What drew me to employment law was how personal it is," Samuel said. "Commercial law is all about money, but in employment cases, there's a lot more at stake. If you're accused of wrongdoing by an employee, that's very personal. Plus, you're always learning new things."


An example is the new Private Attorneys General Act reform legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 1. "We're trying to figure out the impact the reforms will have on existing cases, because in a sense they provide a roadmap for judges," Samuel said in mid-July. "For new cases, the law will be very helpful."


He added: "I don't expect the plaintiff bar will agree with me, but PAGA was being seriously abused. It was coming down to how much money plaintiff lawyers could pocket." PAGA's expanded provisions that allow companies to cure claimed violations before litigation begins are a big part of that. "The reforms will disincentivize those lawyers from enriching themselves."


In April 2024, Samuel achieved a significant defense win in a long-running case over alleged religious discrimination in COVID-19 vaccinations -- setting a precedent that may well influence a number of other such cases in the litigation pipeline. A federal judge in Los Angeles granted summary judgment to Samuel's client, Anschutz Entertainment Group's L.A. Arena Co., on claims it had violated an employee's right to religious accommodation by terminating him for refusing vaccination. Camp v. L.A. Arena Co. LLC et al., 5:22-cv-02220 (C.D. Cal., filed Dec. 16, 2022).


The employee, who worked as a camera operator for live events at Crypto.com Arena and the Peacock Theater, asserted that his bosses' failure to accommodate his request for an alternative to vaccination violated his rights under state and federal law. Over two years of litigation, Samuel and his team demonstrated that permitting the employee to test for Covid instead of receiving the vaccine would have required the defendants to incur substantial expenses and would have heightened the risk for thousands of employees, fans, athletes and others with whom the plaintiff interacted at work.


"His request if granted would have caused an undue hardship, and the judge agreed," Samuel said. "These cases are maturing and bubbling up now, and Camp is a precedent."