Chapter 12: Family, Medical, and Military Leave: Recent Developments Under the FMLA and USERRA April 2024 Co-Authored By: Michelle Brookfield The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was enacted by Congress in 1993 and has now developed over thirty years of regulations and extensive caselaw. As the Department of Labor (DOL) summarizes, the FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave...
Buchalter
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Overview
Buchalter is a full-service business law firm that has been teaming with clients for eight decades, providing legal counsel at all stages of their growth and evolution, and helping them meet the many legal challenges and decisions they face. Our clients are engaged in a diverse global economy governed by complex laws and regulations, and they trust us as advisers and business partners because we are involved in their world. They rely on our forward-thinking to help them resolve problems before they arise.
At Buchalter, we practice in that spirit.
Our founding principle-providing our clients with the best business solutions-continues to lead us. We value each client relationship, recognizing that their success is our success. Our overarching goal-getting the best results for the client in a timely manner with sensitivity to cost-has engendered client loyalty, and the firm has grown from that loyalty.
Our lawyers are accessible, resourceful, skillful and adept at responding to change. Our technological capabilities keep case law and rule changes at our fingertips and client communications current, enabling us to create efficient, superior outcomes.
We strongly believe that technology is a tool that furthers the practice of law and have used that belief to develop a cutting edge platform for our firm. We use a meshed (NVPN) network to facilitate work among offices, Cisco VoIP telephony and Video-over-IP conferencing. Sharing documents is seamless through FileSite, which is also utilized to create our Client Extranets. To support our litigation matters, we use Concordance and Opticon, as well as LiveNote and Sanction. Unlike many firms, we have the capacity to process e-Discovery in-house, reducing client costs.
Buchalter lawyers are also active members of the communities in which they live and work. Leadership is a value the founding partners practiced and passed on to the current generation of attorneys. Our lawyers sit on the boards of prominent organizations, teach and lecture frequently. We actively participate in many associations and groups including the Public Law Center, San Francisco Legal Aid Society, Practicing Law Institute, California State Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the LACBA Domestic Violence Project, the Sojourner Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Phoenix and many others.
Buchalter is consistently ranked among the leading law firms by Chambers and Partners, Best Lawyers, The Daily Journal and the Los Angeles Business Journal. It is also ranked among the leading firms nationally by American Legal Media and the National Law Journal.
Buchalter's commitment to reflecting and enhancing the rich diversity of the clients and communities in which we practice is more than eight decades strong. The firm's diversity of attorneys and staff provides clients with a greater array of creative talent and alternative thinking, benefiting all.
Areas of Practice
Professionals
Partners
Valerie Bantner Peo
ShareholderPeter G. Bertrand
ShareholderFaith K. Bruins
ShareholderShawn M. Christianson
ShareholderMatthew S. Covington
ShareholderJason Croft
ShareholderKirsten J. Day
ShareholderDenise H. Field
ShareholderManuel Fishman
ShareholderAlicia Guerra
ShareholderBenjamin M. Heuer
ShareholderJeffrey Judd
ShareholderNatacha Kolb
ShareholderJenni Krengel
ShareholderMonica Mazzei
ShareholderSharon Morrissey
ShareholderGwenneth O'Hara
ShareholderJay L. Paxton
ShareholderJosiah R. Reid
ShareholderNora Sheriff
ShareholderThomas M. Sherwood
ShareholderDouglas C. Straus
ShareholderMarlene J. Williams
ShareholderDylan W. Wiseman
ShareholderJames B. Wright
Partner EmeritusGlenn P. Zwang
ShareholderAssociates
Alexander Davis
AttorneyLotus Fung
AttorneySamir A. Hafez
AttorneyStephanie Huang
AttorneyBraeden J. Mansouri
AttorneyChristopher Parker
AttorneySamuel D. Sazer
AttorneyOf Counsel
Jonathan August
Special CounselJean L. Bertrand
Of CounselBrandon Carr
Special CounselJeanine M. Donohue
Of CounselJohn Epperson
Of CounselBukola Mabadeje
Senior CounselJulian (Pete) Mack
Of CounselRandall L. Manvitz
Of CounselPeter W. McGaw
Of CounselJames P. Mosher
Of CounselTiffany F. Ng
Senior CounselCecily Anne O’Regan
Of CounselMelissa Richards
Of CounselC. Jean Ryan
Of CounselSteven H. Winick
Special CounselArticles
Pivot, Don’t Panic: How Employers Should Respond to the FTC’s Ban on Non-Compete Agreements
May 10, 2024 By: Dylan W. Wiseman and Sarah Andrzejczak On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission approved and issued its final rule effectively banning employers’ use of non-compete agreements (subject to very few exceptions). The rule becomes effective 120 days after publication in the Federal Register, heralding yet another stride towards enhanced employee mobility. Despite the unfavorable reception from many employers, it’s important to understand that all is not lost. Notably, since the Gold Rush era, California employers have successfully operated without non-compete agreements...
Press
Lauren M. Spahn Featured in Frost School of Music
Music Industry Knowledge Brings Legal Success May 28, 2024 By: Jordan Levin This year she shares that honor with nine other Miami Law alumni. But Spahn, who graduated in 2013, says the knowledge of the music industry she gained at the Frost School’s Music Industry program (MIND) was essential to what has been a highly successful legal career. Billboard has consistently named MIND one of the top music industry programs in the country. “Frost gave me the practical hands-on knowledge I needed to thrive in my career,” Spahn says. “Without the skill set I was given at Frost I wouldn’t have been able to jump into my job the way I that I did and to thrive the way that I have...
Adam Bass Quoted in Law360 Pulse
Buchalter CEO On Why Law Firms Should Hire Military Vets May 24, 2024 By: Tracey Read "We hold a special place for veterans," Bass said. "We have a bunch of veterans who are lawyers and then we have a number of nonlawyer staff who are as well. Our director of IT is a former Marine. My assistant — we worked together for 25 years before she passed away — was an Army vet." Buchalter currently has 12 military veteran attorneys. Less than 1% of the population serves in the U.S. military, and 2.5% of the attorneys at Buchalter are veterans, according to the firm. To read the full article, click here...
Blogs
Chemical Law & Prop 65 Blog
Chemical Law & Prop 65