Working Together – Our Process

Initial Contact

When you contact us, you will speak confidentially with us about your situation. Then we may schedule an in-person meeting with one of our attorneys. We will ask you to gather and bring relevant documents to that meeting, including, for example, your offer letter, employment agreement, W-2, nondisclosure agreement, relevant emails, performance evaluations, warnings, termination letter, or severance agreement.

Meeting in Person

The purpose of this confidential meeting with one of our partners is to:

• discuss the situation that caused you to contact us;
• review relevant documents; explore your needs, questions and concerns;
• identify any challenges or obstacles to resolution; and
• develop the best strategies to meet your goals.

By the end of the meeting, you will have an understanding of your legal rights and options, as well as whether our firm can represent you.

Fee Agreement

If we decide to work together, our firm will provide you with a draft fee agreement to consider. The agreement states the terms of the attorney-client relationship, including the scope of our services, the fees, potential risks, and your responsibilities as a client. You should read this agreement carefully, asking any questions before signing it. We typically offer representation on a contingency fee basis, which means for the cases we accept that we do not charge our clients an hourly fee for the work we perform. Instead, our fees are based on a percentage of any recovery we are able to obtain for you. If there is no recovery, then there is no fee. We will only represent you with a signed fee agreement.

Demand Letter

After we finalize a signed fee agreement, we will typically write a letter to your employer. This letter is referred to as a ‘demand letter.’ To enable us to do so, we will ask you to provide us with a detailed summary of the events leading to your termination or the situation that caused you to seek legal representation. The letter that we will send to your employer or former employer introduces our firm as your attorney, states the relevant facts and legal claims using the information and documents you provided, and proposes a resolution that may include a financial demand. You may revise the letter before we send it to your employer. The employer’s attorney usually responds within a few weeks. Based on the response, we will help you decide whether to negotiate or initiate legal action.

Negotiation and Mediation

In appropriate cases, our firm attempts to resolve disputes as early as possible. We may do this informally through discussions with the employer’s attorney or through mediation, which is a method of voluntarily resolving disputes using a neutral professional, or mediator. Mediation before or after filing a formal complaint may be a cost-effective, expedient way to resolve a case. We will advise you about the mediation process, how to prepare, acceptable mediators, potential risks and rewards, and other ways to resolve your case. Many cases settle at or after mediation, when all parties agree to compromise to avoid litigation.

Litigation and Arbitration

Some cases do not resolve at mediation or without filing a lawsuit and may proceed to litigation. This process involves filing a formal complaint in state or federal court, or in arbitration. Then the employer must respond—usually within 30 days—by admitting or denying the complaint’s allegations or making a challenge to the complaint. After the employer responds, the parties engage in discovery, which refers to a formal exchange of information about the case. During discovery, you must be available for depositions and to respond to written questions from the employer. At this point, parties may try mediation to attempt to resolve the case. If the parties are unable to do so, the case will proceed to trial or hearing, to be resolved by a jury or arbitrator. Our partners have many years of experience with trial and arbitration and will advise you about this process, including risks and potential outcomes.

Other Services

Our employment lawyers are available to advise you regarding a variety of employment matters on an hourly basis. Services we may provide include reviewing and negotiating severance agreements, requesting reasonable accommodations for a disability, and advising you about your legal rights in difficult workplace situations such as discrimination, harassment, or wrongful termination.