Name: Brandon R. McKelvey
Item: Brandon R. McKelvey
Author: brandon

Bio

Practice Overview
Brandon’s practice is focused on offering clients business-centric solutions to high-stakes employment lawsuits. Brandon has successfully represented some of the largest companies in California and the United States in multimillion-dollar employment lawsuits. He has been named to Sacramento Magazine’s “Top Lawyers” list and named as one of Sacramento Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar” and “40 under 40.”Brandon is a speaker, consultant, advisor, and trusted counsel for businesses, employment organizations, and law firms all over the state on wage and hour matters. Although Brandon regularly handles all types of employment lawsuits, his practice focuses on three specialties: (1) class action defense, (2) Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) representative action defense, and (3) employment law counseling and training. Brandon is also the co-owner of California Compliance Solutions and he has developed revolutionary training and lawsuit prevention tools for businesses.

Experience
Brandon has represented over 100 California businesses in employment lawsuits all over the state of California, with a focus on wage and hour class and PAGA actions. Before launching Medina McKelvey LLP, Brandon was a partner in the Labor & Employment Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP (a top-tier international employment law firm with over 700 attorneys) where he co-led the California Class Action Group, created a popular employment law blog, authored wage and hour and employment law treatises, and regularly spoke on California employment law topics.

Accomplished Litigator
Before working at Seyfarth Shaw, Brandon was a full-service litigator representing individuals and businesses in a variety of contexts, including class actions and complex business and employment disputes. He has worked on some of the biggest class action cases in California and was a member of the trial team on one of the largest and longest class action trials on record. For the last 11 years, Brandon has devoted his career to representing employers facing complex lawsuits and class and representative actions.

Employment Defense
Brandon has defended small, medium, and large businesses in state and federal courts all over California. While he handles all types of employment law cases, he focuses his practice on complex employment litigation, including class actions, representative actions, and high-exposure employment law claims. For more information on the types of cases Brandon handles, visit the “What We Do” page.

Skilled Class Action Litigator
Brandon has litigated class and representative actions his entire 16-year career and has helped clients defeat class certification on many occasions. He has experience on both sides of the bar, helping him see a case from all angles, assess exposure at the outset of a case, and deliver a range of practical solutions to clients. Brandon is a thought leader and innovator on the prevention and defense of class actions and he has developed YouTube videos and other tools to help businesses understand the threat of such lawsuits and the best methods for defending and avoiding them.

Wage And Hour Defense
Brandon has defended wage and hour class, collective, multi-party, and representative actions in every federal court in California, in every major California county/city, and on appeal at both the federal and state levels. Brandon has also represented employers dealing with claims, audits, or investigations from federal and state agencies, including the Employment Development Department (EDD), Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). In addition to defending wage and hour claims, Brandon has been retained to act as a consultant on wage and hour cases, regularly speaks on this topic, and has developed and delivered comprehensive training on wage and hour compliance.

Counseling And Training
Brandon has counseled Fortune 500 companies, large privately held companies, public agencies, medium and small businesses, and franchisees on California employment law compliance, with a focus on California’s wage and hour laws. Brandon has developed videos and comprehensive compliance solutions for business on wage and hour issues. He has trained hundreds of business owners and managers across California on these topics.

Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Defense
Brandon has been at the forefront of defending representative PAGA cases, which are a growing threat to businesses. He has experience defending PAGA actions against many of the plaintiffs’ lawyers in California who regularly file these extortion-style lawsuits seeking quick settlements for ticky-tack violations of the California Labor Code. In the process, he has developed innovative and efficient solutions for dealing with these lawsuits. Brandon has also developed a video on YouTube that helps business owners understand the threat PAGA actions present to California businesses.

Business Focus
Brandon has handled employment lawsuits, including class and collective litigation, in a wide number of industries. He has a passion for learning the way businesses work and tailoring a legal solution that is right for the client’s business and industry. Brandon is a business owner and entrepreneur himself and understands the pressures of running a business and balancing risk management and legal compliance at the same time.

Client Service
Brandon believes client service and effective communication are two of the most important aspects of the attorney-client relationship. Brandon strives to distill cases down to core financial, business, and risk management decisions. He has also developed new ways of communicating with clients that make it easier for them to understand the case and the risks they are facing. He uses a unique approach to keep communications focused and easy to read, while providing decision points and a clear roadmap for clients.

Innovation
During his career, Brandon started a first-of-its-kind California employment law blog aimed at finding creative ways to deliver practical solutions on issues that employers regularly face, in an easy-to-read format. Brandon has also developed interactive legal and management training on wage and hour issues and regularly counsels business on custom-fit compliance solutions for issues related to meal and rest periods, off-the-clock work, employee exempt status classifications, independent contractor classifications, and other topics.

Strong Credentials
Brandon graduated from UC Davis School of Law (Executive Editor of the Law Review) where he authored a published law review article that has since been cited by numerous legal journals and courts. He grew up in Southeastern Michigan and graduated from Wayne State University (magna cum laude) in Detroit.

Family Commitment
Brandon has been happily married to his wife for more than 18 years. He’s also the proud dad of a young daughter and one Labrador Retriever.

Brandon R. McKelvey

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