Schneider, Steven
Partner
Class Action Defense
Economic Recovery
Labor & Employment
Legal Expertise
Employment and Wrongful Competition Law on Behalf of Management: Planning for reductions in workforce and corporate acquisitions, personnel problems advice, representing employers before numerous government agencies and California and federal trial and appellate courts in every kind of wage and hour, wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation claims in individual and class action lawsuits, and prosecuting wrongful competition lawsuits.
Labor Law: Every facet of an employer's involvement with a union, from programs for remaining union-free, defending against union election campaigns, chief negotiator of collective bargaining agreements, dealing with strikes, picketing, arbitrations, trust fund and union litigation, and obtaining union decertification.
Industry Focus
Payroll processing, entertainment, financial, health care, construction, manufacturing, retail, transportation, and professional firms
Key Professional Accomplishments
* In a commercial case involving a boatload of rice that sailed through a major hurricane, enforced in the federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit the contract's foreign country forum and choice of law provisions on behalf of the Ministry of Trade and related entity of a Middle East country.
* In a case in which hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged damages were sought (and later awarded) against a former member of our corporate client’s board of directors, successfully obtained complete dismissal of the corporate client.
* Successfully prosecuted wrongful competition lawsuit against former owners and managers of sold business, resulting in client's multimillion-dollar recovery.
* Successfully secured insurance coverage to fully fund pre-trial mediated settlements of lawsuits brought against employer clients, including cases alleging wrongful termination/whistleblower claims and wrongful termination/sexual harassment claims.
* Successfully obtained dismissal of numerous federal and state employment discrimination administrative complaints against employer clients on jurisdictional and other grounds.
Professional, Business, and Civic Affiliations
* Attorney Settlement Officer, U.S. District Court, Los Angeles
* Mediator, Los Angeles County Superior Court
* American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law Section
* Los Angeles County Bar Association
Court Admissions
* California, 1973
* Massachusetts, 1973
* USDC, Central District of California, 1973
* USDC, Eastern District of California, 1985
* USDC, Northern District of California, 1974
* USDC, Southern District of California, 1986
* U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1974
* U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, 1999
* U.S. Supreme Court, 1983
Education
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1973
Cornell University, B.S., 1970; Phi Kappa Phi
