Recognized as one of the leading employee rights attorneys in California, Jim earned his J.D. degree in 1989 from Northwestern University School of Law. He received his B.A. degree, with distinction, from the University of Virginia, where has was an Echols Scholar and a National Merit Scholar.
Over his 30-year career, Jim has built an impressive record of success in complex employment and consumer class action cases. He has served as lead class counsel in more than 80 certified class action lawsuits, several of which have resulted in published opinions, and has tried multiple class action cases to judgment. Jim has spoken frequently on a wide variety of topics involving employment and consumer law and has testified before the California State Assembly on the legality of certain employment compensation practices.
Jim has earned an AV-Preeminent® rating, the highest rating offered by Martindale-Hubbell, the country’s leading attorney rating service. He has also been named as a California “Super Lawyer” since 2008, which is an honor reserved for the top 5% of attorneys in California. In 2017, Jim received a California Lawyer of the Year award for his role as lead counsel in Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, which resulted in a landmark California Supreme Court decision. Jim just completed a three-year term as a commissioner on the California State Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (“JNE Commission”), which is tasked with evaluating candidates who are being considered for judicial appointment.
Jim has obtained verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients totaling over $500 million. (Of course, results depend on the facts of each case, and we cannot guarantee any particular result.) Some of those results include:
$106 million In re Citigroup
$50 million Steinberg v. Morgan Stanley
$45 million Garett v. Morgan Stanley
$44 million Bowman v. UBS
$37 million Burns v. Merrill Lynch
$21 million Thill v. Edward Jones
$20 million Takacs v. A.G. Edwards
$19 million Kilby v. CVS
$18 million Hall v. Rite Aid
$15 million Garrett v. Bank of America
$15 million Smiles v. Walgreen Co.
Marita attended the University of Southern California and received a B.S. in Business Administration. She earned an M.B.A. in Management from San Diego State University, and her J.D. from the University of San Diego where she previously received her Paralegal Certificate.After receiving her undergraduate degree from U.S.C., Marita entered the management training program at Carter Hawley Hale department stores where she was a department manager for several years. Her legal experience includes working as a litigation paralegal at McInnis, Fitzgerald, Rees & Sharkey while she attended law school. After she completed law school and was admitted to practice law in the State of California, she worked as a litigation attorney with Callahan, McCune & Willis LLP, Dostart Clapp & Coveney LLP and Gordon & Rees LLP.
Marita has experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of employment matters, including class actions and representative actions under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act, PAGA. Marita is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in the State of California, and before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Teri earned her B.A degree from California Polytechnic State University. She completed the University of San Diego Paralegal Program with honors and received a M.A. degree from San Diego State University. Teri is also a Certified Digital Forensics Examiner.Teri has more than 20 years of experience as a litigation paralegal in both state and federal courts. She has worked in the areas of employment law, consumer law, and class actions. Teri also worked at the San Diego Public Defenders Office, San Diego State University, and Peregrine Systems.