Anne Barnett

Anne Cherry Barnett focuses her practice on employment matters and has represented clients of all sizes, including start-ups and large Fortune 50 companies. She is a business-focused counselor who provides realistic and appropriate recommendations to minimize employer risk using her insight on what potential plaintiffs and their attorneys focus on while recognizing the economic realities of particular policies.

Anne prides herself on providing sound and cutting-edge legal strategies that consistently focus on the client’s bottom line as they navigate the complicated labyrinth of California and federal employment regulations.

Her practice includes defending employers in complex wage and hour class actions, and she frequently speaks and writes on the most current wage and hour topics. Barnett also defends employers in discrimination, harassment and retaliation cases, as well as other matters including alleged California Labor Code violations, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act matters, breach of contract and worker misclassification issues.

She regularly provides counsel to employers on various compliance issues, including wage and hour laws, as well as conducting wage and hour audits and advising employers on independent contractor status, leaves of absence, accommodations, workplace investigations, and other employment laws. She also provides employment due diligence review in corporate transactions.

Anne also regularly counsels employers regarding compliance with exempt and non-exempt classification, founder disputes, workforce reductions, discrimination claims, employment policies and risk management regarding potential litigation.

She is able to develop scalable employment policies for young companies to create consistent handling of employment matters and claims to maximize efficiency and reduce use of employer resources. Anne has a proven track record of successfully defending corporations and individuals in the western United States and various federal courts in high-value litigation.

She is also an experienced litigator in the areas of products liability, commercial litigation and catastrophic personal injury matters and served as co-trial counsel during a successful defense verdict for a chemical manufacturer where the plaintiff sought over $100 million in damages.

Anne also has experience as a Legal Research Attorney for the Superior Court of San Francisco and as an extern for the Honorable Ksenia Tsenin, Judge of the Superior Court of San Francisco.

Education :

• University of San Francisco School of Law, 2003, J.D., Maritime Law Journal, Technical Editor; Law Merit Scholar; Arthur Zief, Jr. Scholar
• Pennsylvania State University, 1997, B.S., Dean’s List

Professional Admissions & Qualifications : California

Court Admissions :

• U.S. District Court – Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court – Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court – Central District of California

Professional Affiliations :

• Legal Services for Children, pro bono panel attorney
• San Francisco Bar Association
• State Bar of California, Labor and Employment Litigation Section
• University of San Francisco School of Law, Women Lawyers Committee

EXPERIENCE :

• Successfully defended California retailer in a wage and hour class action litigating newly enacted Labor Code 226.2 (Piece Rate)
• Prevailed on motion to dismiss for a California retailer in a wage and hour class action at outset of litigation.
• Successfully defended a security company in California class action litigation alleging various California Labor Code violations.
• Favorably resolved an age discrimination action on behalf of a technology company.
• Serves as California employment counsel advising a technology company on employment law compliance.
• Serves as California employment counsel advising a product manufacturer on employment law compliance issues.
• Represents an agriculture company in various discrimination, harassment, misclassification and wage and hour claims.