Century City Employment Lawyers

As one of the leading trial lawyers in California, Partner Matthew McNicholas represents victims in a range of areas, including catastrophic injury, wrongful death, employment law, product liability, sexual assault and other consumer-oriented matters, such as civil rights and aviation disasters.

Founding Partner John McNicholas has more than five decades of experience representing plaintiffs in the areas of catastrophic personal injury, employment law, class actions, sexual abuse and other consumer-oriented matters. He is a recognized leader with more than 150 jury verdicts and 20 reported appellate decisions in copyright infringement, breach of contract, medical malpractice, pharmaceutical and aviation cases.

With nearly 20 years of experience in all areas of civil litigation, Senior Lawyer Courtney C. McNicholas focuses her practice on law enforcement employment, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, products liability, habitability and sexual abuse cases. She has a wide range of skills, including spearheading client interviews, case analysis, mediation and settlement negotiations and trial preparation.

Attorney Jeffrey R. Lamb practices in all areas of civil litigation, including personal injury, civil rights, medical malpractice, elder abuse, wrongful death, employment and mass tort actions. He has dedicated his career to representing victims against large establishments like insurance companies.

Raphael A. Katri Attorney Raphael Katri is founder, president, and managing attorney of the Law Offices of Raphael A. Katri, located in Los Angeles, CA with conference centers across Southern California. Having obtained his juris doctorate from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California, Mr. Katri has been admitted to practice as an attorney in all state courts within California as well as the United States District Court of California, Central District (Federal Court). Before starting the Law Offices of Raphael A. Katri, Mr. Katri practiced with major law firms in Los Angeles, CA. Mr. Katri concentrates in the area of Federal...

With more than 25 years of experience as an employment law litigator and counselor in Southern California, Jeffrey’s expertise and success have earned him third-party recognition including: -- Awarded the prestigious AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell in 2013 and 2014, a “significant rating accomplishment” that is “a testament to the fact that a lawyer’s peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence”; -- Membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an invitation-only association reserved for litigators and trial lawyers who have obtained one or more judgments or settlements of $1 million or more; ...

Barry Kellman has been the Managing Partner of Kellman & Kleiman (and its predecessor firm) since 2006. During that time, the firm has become one of the premier employment/business boutique firms in Los Angeles. The firm places special emphasis on the needs of small and mid-size technology companies, and its entertainment practice includes movie studios, production companies and talent.

In April of 1998, Scott formed The Law Offices of Mann & Elias, a Los Angeles based law office handling employment law and personal injury cases. Mann & Elias have successfully settled hundreds of claims, and completed nearly 100 jury and bench trials. Since the founding of the office, they have recovered over $18 Million in settlements and verdicts for their clients. Practice area includes: Workplace Discrimination Wrongful Termination Retaliation Harassment at work Whistle blower Car accidents Truck accidents Motorcycle accidents Wrongful death Dog bites Product liability Premises liability Our success is based on our considerable trial experience (over 40 years combined), excellent advocacy skills, intense preparation and research, experienced and specialized staff, and...

I am Employment Labor and Personal Injury Lawyer. My top attributes are that I am a motivated self-starter with an aptitude for learning new skills quickly, I am extremely organized, have great time management skills, can maintain composure under pressure and able to work autonomously with little direct supervision.

Van Vleck and Turner LLP
Van Vleck Turner & Zaller
Carlton DiSante & Freudenberger LLP
McDermott, Will & Emery LLP
Dewey Ballantine LLP

Abel Nair has over a decade of experience in civil litigation in a variety of practice areas. Since joining McNicholas & McNicholas, Mr. Nair focuses his practice on employment law representing clients who have been discriminated / harassed, wrongfully terminated or retaliated against. The majority of his clients are public sector employees, primarily law enforcement officers and firefighters. In the past few years, three of Mr. Nair’s cases have settled for over a million dollars, and multiple cases have settled for half a million. Moreover, he has successfully defeated 12 summary judgement motions.

Attorney Bryan Freedman has a practice dedicated to entertainment, business, copyright, employment, Internet, real estate, and sports law. Bryan represents clients locally in Southern California, as well as throughout the United States and around the world.

Recognized as a renowned entertainment litigator, the Hollywood Reporter named Mr. Freedman one of the “most influential entertainment litigators in the country” for over 10 years in a row. He has also been featured on the publication’s “Top 100 Power Lawyers” list and has been listed in Variety magazine’s 2015 Legal Impact Report, a selective list comprised of only 22 chosen individuals.

Recognized as a renowned...

Alex Favela serves as the firm’s Pre-Litigation Attorney and specializes in disputes involving wage and hour violations, misclassification, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, failure to accommodate violations, and class actions. Alex received his J.D. from Stanford Law School. As a child of immigrant working-class parents, upholding the dignity of workers is central to Alex’s identity as a lawyer. A person’s job is their livelihood, and Alex strongly believes that workers deserve to be treated with respect and fairness. Before joining the firm, Alex represented workers at a respected employment plaintiff-side law firm. He has also clerked for the U.S. Office of Special...

P.J. Van Ert is a seasoned trial lawyer and civil litigator specializing in class actions and individual employment matters. As a Blackstone law associate she dedicates her practice to California employees. After more than 75 criminal jury trials during thirteen years as a deputy district attorney, she transitioned to civil litigation and found her way to Blackstone. From wage and hour theft to sexual harassment and hostile work environment, she is able to utilize her years of zealously advocating for victims of crime to get superior results in employment cases. Ms. Van Ert has earned guilty verdicts in lengthy homicide...

Alex is a Senior Associate Attorney at Blackstone Law. Alex is an active member of the legal community as it relates to employees’ rights. Alex is a member of the California Employment Lawyers’ Association (CELA), and is on the committee for the Mentor Committee, the Women’s Committee, the Legislative Committee, the Wage and Hour Committee, and the New Member Committee, as well as a recent admit to the 2024 – 2025 CELA Leadership Conservatory. Alex has significant experience providing the best counsel for his clients, whether through trial, or through multimillion dollar settlements, or through whatever need the client may describe....

Ms. Schimmel’s practice is dedicated to employment litigation matters on behalf of California employees. More than half of Ms. Schimmel’s experience has been focused on representing employees in wage and hour class and representative actions for labor code violations (including, but not limited to, claims unpaid overtime, minimum wages, expense reimbursement, meal and rest period), as well as consumer and privacy right matters. Ms. Schimmel’s experience also includes representing employees in wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment and retaliation matters against employers who violate California law. She has successfully prosecuted and resolved hundreds of cases. Prior to joining Blackstone, Ms. Schimmel...

Betty is an associate attorney at Blackstone Law. She graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and a minor in Armenian Studies. While in undergrad, Betty, along with fellow classmates, started the Armenian Pre-Law Students Association, to connect Armenian students aspiring to become attorneys to successful alumni within their community. A proud double Bruin, Betty later attended UCLA School of Law, where she obtained her Juris Doctorate. As a law student, Betty’s professor recognized her articulate writing abilities and selected her as a Legal Research and Writing Advisor for first...

Leo Livshits is an accomplished employment attorney with extensive trial and litigation experience. Mr. Livshits handles a wide variety of employment matters involving workplace discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other civil rights violations. Aside from securing numerous seven-figure settlements in single-plaintiff cases, Mr. Livshits has co-chaired jury trials and arbitrations that resulted in verdicts or judgments of $155.4 million, $2.7 million, $1.7 million, and $1 million. Additionally, Mr. Livshits has successfully litigated appeals in state and federal court. This includes a published decision in Hernandez v. Meridian Management Services, LLC (2023) 87 Cal.App.5th 1214, where the California Court of Appeal found that...

Danielle L. GruppChang is a passionate advocate for workers’ rights and a seasoned attorney specializing in wage and hour class actions. Raised in a family where both parents worked in the restaurant industry, Ms. GruppChang developed an early respect for the hard work and resilience of the Californian workers. This background exposed Ms. GruppChang the struggles of working-class individuals sparked her dedication to fighting for justice on behalf of workers. Ms. GruppChang’s professional journey began when she started working at a local coffee shop and continued throughout college where she worked tables, often serving her classmates. These experiences further resolved her...

Ms. Gold is an experienced litigation attorney who specializes in class action labor and employment matters. She spent the first decade of her career at a major law firm working on a wide range of business matters, including defending clients in high-stakes class action litigation. This experience provided Ms. Gold with valuable insight on how to best position cases for settlement and/or trial by allowing her to better understand defendants’ strategies, incentives, and motivations throughout the various phases of litigation. Ms. Gold then transitioned to a well-known boutique plaintiff-side class action law firm, where she was instrumental in obtaining nearly $100,000,000...

Ethan D. Kirschner is an experienced litigator with clients in California, throughout the United States, and overseas. Originally from Wisconsin, Mr. Kirschner was a champion high school and college debater. He has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School, and received an LL.M. in intellectual property law from the University of California, Berkeley.


Mr. Kirschner has been practicing law since 2005. He is licensed to practice law in California.