We're pleased to announce the opening of our newest office in Ventura County, bringing the firm's office count nationally to 23. With the addition of the Ventura location, WSHB enjoys an on-site presence in nine of the largest population centers in the California, the largest state in the nation. "Our impetus in opening Ventura County is client driven, repeated requests for a local presence to service the growing legal needs in not only Ventura, but Santa Barbara and the Central Coast," said Stewart Reid, Managing Partner of WSHB. "We enjoy national recognition as leaders in litigation with a strong trial record of consistent results which has created intense interest in a local presence for this geographic region. Centrally located, the Ventura County office will service and complement our myriad of practice areas including business disputes, labor and employment, transportation, real estate, construction, medical negligence to agricultural exposures to name a few."...

Kicking off 2019 are promotions for sixteen of the nation’s most talented lawyers at WSHB. Promotion of this talented group of lawyers comes on the heels of a year where the firm saw continued growth, as evidenced by its recognition in Law360 as one of the fastest growing law firms in the nation. Notably, as pointed out by this national publication, growth is organic from within the firm. Fueling the growth is the raw talent and litigation success enjoyed by this class of rising stars, skilled in handling complex and civil litigation and consistent in results time and again. This year's senior counsel class is national in diversity, reflecting the geography of WSHB's 23 offices from coast to coast. This year's class is comprised of James Chortanian (Orange County), Williams Daks (New York), Cassidy Ellis (Las Vegas), Robert Ferrier (Northern California), Jordan Gaskins (Glendale), Michael Harrell (New York), Anoush Holaday (Northern California), Kimberly Jones (Tampa), Andrew Kleiner (Phoenix), Danielle Kuck (Thousand Oaks), Colleen McCaffrey (Atlanta), Eric Morales (Miami), Samuel Nora (Los Angeles), Herjit Rubio (Riverside), Richard Singer (Miami), and Analise Tilton (Las Vegas)....

WSHB is pleased to announce four attorneys have been elected to the Firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2019. The four new partners are Katherine Brinson (Los Angeles), Kevin Fitzpatrick (New York), and J. Paul Lewis (San Diego), and Dana Withers (Dallas). Assumption of partnership positions at WSHB comes after another impressive year of organic growth for the firm, which included the opening of a Texas office. It also caps a year where the firm expanded relationships throughout the world with an exclusive association with London based DWF. Recognized by Law360 as the second fastest growing law firm in the nation for a second consecutive year in a row, WSHB credits its growth year after year to its time-tested practice of developing a pipeline of talent through internal promotion. This year's partnership class falls squarely in that category, as the four individuals elected represent lawyers who have advanced through the ranks of the firm. Each is trial tested and brings a record of strong, consistent results to the partnership....

Last month, the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in what many expect to be an important case for employers in Glassdoor, et al v. Andra Group, LP. The case concerns several disgruntled employees who had apparently aired grievances on the popular career website, Glassdoor.com. Glassdoor provides a platform for users to publicly and anonymously post reviews and information such as salary, work hours, and corporate culture of their employers for the benefit of current jobseekers. Displeased with its negative reviews on the platform, Dallas-based apparel company Andra Group, LP filed a petition in Texas state court seeking to discover the identities of ten specific reviewers pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 202. The company supported the petition with a sworn affidavit stating each of the ten reviews were false and defamatory in nature. Under Rule 202, a party may seek pre-litigation investigative discovery in limited circumstances as a form of equitable relief. However, due to the potential for abuse, Texas courts closely scrutinize Rule 202 petitions, narrowly tailoring any orders granting relief for discovery....

On October 1, 2018, New York State released final versions of the model sexual harassment prevention policy and the model sexual harassment training materials that relate to the anti-sexual harassment legislation passed earlier this year, along with the final FAQs to assist employers in navigating the new laws. Among other things, the anti-harassment legislation requires that employers maintain sexual harassment policies and training programs that, at a minimum, comply with the now released models. Accordingly, employers that do not have a sexual harassment prevention policy or that do not implement sexual harassment training, will now be required to do both, while employers that do have a policy and training program in place must ensure that they meet or exceed the standards provided by the models. The model policy and training program can be found here. Notably, these requirements go into effect this coming Tuesday, October 9, 2018, and are discussed further below...