Brent Buchsbaum - Long Beach, CA

Experience

Brent has practiced almost exclusively in the area of employment law for more than twenty years. Before starting the current firm, he spent 16 years as a partner at the Law Offices of Carlin & Buchsbaum LLP, which was one of the largest employee rights firms in Southern California. Brent has handled hundreds of employment cases against some of the largest, most powerful corporations in the country, including Chevron, Bank of America, Walmart, Boeing and many others.

During the course of Brent’s career, he has obtained settlements, awards and verdicts in excess of $50,000,000. These cases ranged from individual wrongful termination cases to large class actions, where compensation was provided to hundreds or even thousands of employees. Brent has represented virtually every type of employee, covering almost every socioeconomic status. He has fought for the employment rights of fast food workers, truck drivers, salespeople, secretaries, scientists, doctors, executives and government workers. Some law firms are dismissive of cases involving workers who were earning modest income, but if the case has merit Buchsbaum & Haag, LLP will assist anyone who has been wronged.

Brent has had significant trial success, including a verdict in excess of $1,000,000, in a discrimination case against the City of Pasadena. This was a highly publicized case that was the lead story on the evening news (link), and was written about in the Los Angeles Times (link) and was on the front page of the Pasadena Star News. In connection with this verdict, which was the of the largest discrimination verdicts in the State that year, Brent received a prestigious nomination as Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorney’s Association of Los Angeles (CAALA).

Several years ago, Brent went to trial against Costco on a false imprisonment case. Costco refused to offer any money prior to trial and firmly believed they would win the case. However, we prevailed and obtained a verdict for our client, and the case was extensively covered in the news, including a feature article in Fast Company Magazine (link).

In the last five years alone, Brent has obtained numerous large wage and hour class action settlements. These are cases that primarily involve allegations of unpaid overtime, meal and rest period violations, unpaid vacation, failure to reimburse for business expenses and failure to pay appropriate sales commissions. And recently, with so many employers forcing employees into arbitration, Brent has specialized in bringing claims under the Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”). An employer cannot force an employee into arbitration on a PAGA claim, so this law is a valuable vehicle to enforce employee wage rights. Below is a non-exhaustive list of class action, individual and PAGA settlement Brent has obtained in the last 5 years:

• MR v. Confidential $3,400,000
• JC v. Confidential $1,750,000
• AC v. Confidential $1,300,000
• JH v. Confidential $1,240,000
• CO v. Confidential $1,000,000
• RH v. Confidential $900,000
• RM v. Confidential $770,000
• RC v. Confidential $650,000
• MF v. Confidential $500,000
• GA v. Confidential $500,000
• DG v. Confidential $465,000
• HN v. Confidential $450,000
• WC v. Confidential $364,000
• DB v. Confidential $360,000

Brent has received accolades in his practice area, and has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer every year from 2011 to 2019, a distinction Thomson Reuters reserves for no more than 2.5% of the lawyers in the State.

Background

Brent was raised in Laguna Beach and attended Laguna Beach High School, where he played tennis and basketball. In 1994, he went on to earn his bachelor’s degree at the University of California Santa Barbara, where he graduated with honors. After college, Brent followed through with his ambition to become a lawyer, enrolling at the University of San Diego School of Law, where he earned his law degree in 1997. It was in law school that Brent decided that fighting for the rights of people who had been harmed, including employment rights, was rewarding and offered him a chance to make a real different in his clients’ lives. Ultimately, he decided a career helping employees was more rewarding than defending corporations or other powerful interests.

Honors & Affiliations

• Super Lawyer 2011-2019

• Trial Lawyer of the Year Nominee—Consumer Attorney’s Association of Los Angeles

• Member of the Million Dollar Advocates (reserved for attorneys who have obtained a verdict in excess of $1,000,000

• Member of the California Employment Lawyers Association (“CELA”), an organization devoted to ensuring protection of employee rights in the courts, in the legislature, and through public persuasion.

• Active Member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Employment Law Section

• Graduated cum laude from University of California at Santa Barbara