Spotlight
As George Bernard Shaw wrote: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.” Unlike most lawyers who stick to what they know, Steve Schneider is an advocate for curiosity, often searching for the unknown and adapting himself accordingly. His thirst for exploration is depicted in the photographs lining the walls of his office. A photo of a mama bear drinking water - her cubs nearby, taken 15 feet away during a trip to Katmai National Park in Southeast Alaska. A photo of a leopard atop a tree, taken 20 feet away during a trip to Serengeti, Tanzania. A photo of a sea lion lying cheek to cheek with Steve’s wife, taken during a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
As a lawyer, Steve’s own maxim is “prepare, prepare, prepare!” This notion was instilled daily by Mr. Jackson Huntley, Steve’s high school debate coach. Mr. Huntley taught Steve how to organize his thoughts into what is known, and what is unknown – find the balance between the two, and utilize that balance to win the argument. Steve continues to “prepare, prepare, prepare!” for every case he has. If a client comes to him, bent over backward with a legal problem, that problem becomes Steve’s problem, and the client often leaves standing five inches taller.
When he is not traveling the depths of the world in search for his next animal encounter or working on behalf of a client, Steve can be found on his yoga mat.
Experience
Legal Expertise
Steven Schneider is a seasoned labor & employment attorney who focuses his practice on employment and wrongful competition law on behalf of Management, and labor law.
Employment and Wrongful Competition Law on Behalf of Management: Planning for reductions in workforce and corporate acquisitions, personnel problems advice, representing employers before numerous government agencies and California and federal trial and appellate courts in every kind of wage and hour, wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation claims in individual and class action lawsuits, and prosecuting wrongful competition lawsuits.
Labor Law: Every facet of an employer’s involvement with a union, from programs for remaining union-free, defending against union election campaigns, chief negotiator of collective bargaining agreements, dealing with strikes, picketing, arbitrations, trust fund and union litigation, and obtaining union decertification.
Representative Matters
- Successful obtained summary judgment (judgment before trial) against a union representing airport employees who signed a petition to get rid of the union, which resulted in the employer withdrawing representation from and terminating its collective bargaining agreement with the union.
- In a commercial case involving a boatload of rice that sailed through a major hurricane, enforced in the federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit the contract's foreign country forum and choice of law provisions on behalf of the Ministry of Trade and related entity of a Middle East country.
- In a case in which hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged damages were sought (and later awarded) against a former member of our corporate client’s board of directors, successfully obtained complete dismissal of the corporate client.
- Successfully prosecuted wrongful competition lawsuit against former owners and managers of sold business, resulting in client’s multimillion-dollar recovery.
- Successfully obtained dismissal of numerous federal and state employment discrimination administrative complaints against employer clients on jurisdictional and other grounds.
Honors & Awards
- Recognized by Best Lawyers in America© in the fields of:
- Labor Law - Management (2019-2021, 2023-2025)
- Litigation - Labor and Employment (2020-2021, 2023-2025)
- “Top 5% of lawyers in Southern California,” Southern California Super Lawyers (2004-2014)
- “Top Attorneys in Southern California in Labor and Employment Law,” Los Angeles Magazine (2004-2012)
- AV® Preeminent™ Rating, Martindale-Hubbell
Professional, Business and civic Affiliations
- Board of Directors, FASHUnited
- Mediator, U.S. District Court, Los Angeles
- Mediator, Los Angeles County Superior Court
- American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law Section
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
Headlines
Headlines
- August 15, 2024
- August 17, 2023
- August 19, 2021
- August 20, 2020
- August 15, 2019
- August 15, 2018
- May 1, 2018
- August 15, 2017
- August 22, 2016
- August 2015
- November 21, 2014
- August 2014
- January 2014
- August 15, 2013
- January 2013
- August 24, 2012
- April 30, 2012
- January 23, 2012
- December 29, 2011
- January 25, 2011
- August 19, 2010
- January 26, 2010
- August 3, 2009
- June 11, 2009
- June 8, 2009
- January 30, 2009
- October 3, 2008
- September 17, 2008
- January 30, 2008
- January 17, 2008
- January 15, 2008
- December 28, 2007
Publications
- Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's Famous Role in Sports Labor CasesBender's Labor & Employment Bulletin, Vol. 9, No. 10 , October 2009
- Los Angeles Daily Journal (Guest Column), December 2008
- In the Workplace, A Happy New Year?Los Angeles Daily Journal , December 2008
- How Employers Lose Lawsuits, MCLE credit article,California Lawyer , August 2004
- March 2004
- Surprise SuitsLos Angeles Daily Journal, March 2004
- Age Discrimination in Employment Law (Chapter on discovery in age discrimination lawsuits)BNA Books, 2003
Client Alerts
- August 21, 2017
- June 28, 2016
- October 27, 2015
- July 2015
- July 13, 2015
- September 19, 2014
- June 27, 2014
- Proposed NLRB Union Election Rules Significantly Reduce Employers’ Response Time to Union OrganizingMarch 6, 2014
- January 13, 2014
- April 15, 2013
- January 2013
- January 2013
- January 2013
- January 10, 2013
- August 1, 2012
- April 13, 2012
- January 24, 2012
- Pending Decisions and Potential LegislationJanuary 2012
- New Laws and Regulations,January 2012
- January 28, 2010
- October 2009
- September 2009
- November 2002
- July 2004
- March 2008
- October 2008
- August 2009
- August 2003
- October 2002
- February 2004
- May 2005
- November 2003
- June 2004
- October 2002
Events & Speaking Engagements
- January 9, 2013
- January 12, 2012
- January 20, 2011
Admissions
- California, 1973
- U.S. District Court
- Central District of California, 1973
- Eastern District of California, 1985
- Northern District of California, 1974
- Southern District of California, 1986
- U.S. Court of Appeals
- Ninth Circuit, 1974
- Eighth Circuit, 1999
- U.S. Supreme Court, 1983
Education
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1973
Cornell University, B.S. Industrial and Labor Relations, 1970; Phi Kappa Phi