This program offers 1.25 participatory MCLE credit.

Join us for a comprehensive introductory panel covering the basics of prosecuting and defending a Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claim from start to finish. Our expert panelists from both the plaintiff and defense bar will start from the beginning by providing an overview of the initial challenges in PAGA litigation including jurisdictional issues and challenges, and navigating the sometimes-tricky administrative filing and notice requirements.  Next, the panelists will discuss the filing of PAGA complaints in Court including how to effectively plead a PAGA claim, and defenses to consider including the arbitrability of potential claims and manageability. The panelists also will briefly review effective discovery in PAGA cases, how to calculate damages and exposure, preparation for a PAGA trial, as well as considerations when settling a PAGA claim.

Speakers: Glenn Danas, Adrianne De Castro, and Yesenia Gallegos

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Glenn Danas brings over a decade of experience to Robins Kaplan’s national Appellate Advocacy and Guidance Group. Insightful and responsive, Glenn’s clear writing, attention to detail, and skill at oral argument have helped him to achieve remarkable results for clients.

Glenn has argued over 40 appeals in the various California appellate courts, including many divisions of the California Court of Appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and multiple cases in the California Supreme Court, and has briefed dozens more. Glenn also has recently acted as counsel of record on cutting-edge appellate matters in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court. In recent years, Glenn has achieved several significant wins before the California Supreme Court, including the consumer protection matter McGill v. Citibank and in employment cases Williams v. Marshalls and Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles.

These successes have earned Glenn recognition from numerous organizations. In 2017 Glenn was named among the “Top 100 Attorneys in California” by the Daily Journal, and in 2015, Glenn’s work on Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles earned him a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (“CLAY”) award from California Lawyermagazine. Glenn was also named one of the “Top 20 Attorneys in California under 40” in 2013 by the DailyJournal, and has been named one of the “Top Labor and Employment Attorneys in California” by the Daily Journal each year from 2015-2018.

Glenn graduated from Emory University School of Law with honors, and was a member of the Emory Law Journal. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, where he attained a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations. Following law school, Glenn served as a law clerk for the Honorable U.W. Clemon, Chief U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama.

A frequent speaker, Glenn regularly presents his thought leadership on California appellate and employment law issues at conferences and seminars.

Adrianne De Castro is a senior associate at Desai Law Firm, P.C. in Orange County. Her practice focuses on plaintiff-side employment and consumer class actions. Ms. De Castro has extensive experience representing workers in employment discrimination cases on account of age, pregnancy, disability, gender, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, and wage and hour claims. Ms. De Castro has helped to successfully resolve numerous cases on behalf of employees at various stages of the litigation process, including just weeks before trial.

Over the last three years, she has devoted significant time to litigating wage and hour class actions on behalf of truck-drivers, leading to a published decision advancing the rights of truck drivers in the state of California. See Cardenas v. McLane Foodservice, Inc., 796 F. Supp. 2d 1246 (C.D. Cal. 2011) (granting truck drivers’ motion for summary judgment of pre and post-shift claims under California Labor Code where employer paid with piece rate wages and denying defendant’s motion for preemption under FAAAA).

Prior to joining the Desai Law Firm, P.C., Ms. De Castro was an associate at the law firm of Mower, Carreon, and Desai LLP where she litigated wage and hour and consumer class actions on behalf of restaurant workers, home health care workers, and California consumers. Ms. De Castro has also worked as an associate at the law firm of Rudy, Exelrod, Zieff, and Lowe in San Francisco where she focused on individual employment discrimination cases and wage and hour class actions. Ms. De Castro began her career as the Ruth Chance Law Fellow at Equal Rights Advocates where she spent two years representing low-wage women workers in sexual harassment and discrimination cases.

Ms. De Castro is a 2005 graduate of U.C. Berkeley School of Law. She is an active member of the California Employment Lawyers Association, the premier organization in California of employee rights advocates, and serves on Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the California Lawyers Association. 

Yesenia M. Gallegos focuses her labor and employment practice on a wide range of matters, including restrictive covenants, wage and hour law, discrimination and harassment claims, executive employment agreements, leaves of absence, employee terminations and reductions in force. Yesenia represents employers in employment litigation—including class actions—pending in both state and federal court. She also represents employers in actions against former employees in trade-secret and embezzlement actions that require immediate restraining orders, injunctions and/or liens.

Yesenia advises an array of domestic and international companies, from small business owners to Fortune 500 companies. Yesenia assists employers in establishing work rules and registering such with local labor regulatory agencies in Latin American countries. She also conducts and oversees workplace harassment and discrimination investigations and conducts wage and hour audits. Yesenia provides organizations with English and/or Spanish training on the following: sexual harassment prevention; employment law for managers and supervisors; compliance with California wage and hour law; and the interplay between disability law, reasonable accommodations and leaves of absence.

Yesenia is a frequent author and speaker on labor and employment topics, including those pertaining to the defense of wage and hour class actions and California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) representative actions. She also often speaks on diversity topics in the legal profession.