Anne M. Brafford

Partner

Anne M. Brafford is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Labor and Employment Practice and has dedicated her career to defending lawsuits against employers and advising them on litigation avoidance and "best practices." She is the practice group leader for the Labor and Employment Practice in Irvine and is an executive member of the firm's Complex Employment Litigation Practice. Her primary focus is defending employers against single-plaintiff and class action claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation of all types under federal and state law. But her practice spans all areas of employment law-including, for example, wrongful termination of all types, defamation, employment contracts, leaves of absence, wage issues, trade secrets, restrictive covenants, and employment-related claims brought under California's Business & Professions Code § 17200. Ms. Brafford also focuses on appellate matters in employment law.

Representative matters and accomplishments include the following:

• Achieved denial of class certification in federal court for a telecommunications company in a purported class action covering a seven-state region alleging disparate treatment and disparate impact claims of race discrimination in promotions, performance reviews, qualification tests, and pay practices.
• Currently defending four class actions on behalf of major television studios and networks brought by television writers who assert disparate treatment and disparate impact claims of age discrimination in hiring.
• Currently defending a national educational institution against a state-wide class action alleging violations of California's meal and rest break laws and retaliation.
• Won a full defense award for a national financial services firm in an arbitration of claims of sexual harassment and retaliation brought by a female customer service representative who alleged $2 million in damages.
• Achieved summary judgment in California state court on behalf of a national educational institution against a plaintiff's claim of disability discrimination and denial of a reasonable accommodation.
• Achieved summary judgment in California federal court on behalf of a national educational institution against a plaintiff claiming race discrimination in promotions.
• Convinced a plaintiff claiming disparate impact age discrimination against a television network to voluntarily dismiss his lawsuit with prejudice in exchange for only a waiver of costs.
• Consistently successful in mediations and settlement negotiations based on aggressive litigation (while avoiding unnecessary, costly discovery disputes) providing leverage for highly favorable outcomes on behalf of, for example, pharmaceutical, medical device, real estate development, educational, financial services, temporary staffing, outsourcing, technology, oil, and television companies and relating to severance of highly paid executives.
• Amicus briefs in several prominent employment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including Smith v. City of Jackson, Grutter v. Bollinger, and Adams v. Florida Power Corp. and Florida Progress Corp.
• Winning brief on the merits before the U.S. Supreme Court in Barnhart v. Bellaire Corporation involving funding of healthcare benefits for retirees in the coal industry.

In the employment class action context, Ms. Brafford focuses on social science expert discovery relating to the "stereotyping," "implicit bias," and "subjective decision-making" arguments advanced by plaintiffs to justify class certification. Representative matters include the following:

• Expert reports relating to the impact of gender stereotypes in the advancement of women in the financial services industry and Daubert motion relating to the same.
• Expert discovery and reports relating to the impact of implicit bias and subjective decision-making on the advancement of African-American employees in the telecommunications industry.
• Expert research and discovery relating to the impact of implicit bias and subjective decision-making on older writers in the television industry.

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Ms. Brafford clerked for two years for Chief Judge H. Dean Whipple of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Ms. Brafford is admitted to practice in California, the District of Columbia, and Missouri and before the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits; and the U.S. District Courts for the Central District of California, the District of Columbia, the District of Maryland, the District of Kansas, and the Western District of Missouri.