Emily Burkhardt Vicente

Emily co-chairs the firm’s labor and employment group and has a national practice focusing on complex employment and wage and hour litigation and advice. Emily is an accomplished trial lawyer who defends employers in complex employment litigation, including California and FLSA wage and hour class and collective actions, California representative PAGA actions, employment discrimination class actions, and complex whistleblower matters.

In addition to her litigation practice, Emily helps employers develop forward-thinking compliance practices that reduce wage and hour disputes and help mitigate other employment-related risks while keeping her client’s business goals firmly in mind. She regularly counsels clients on employment-related matters, including design and implementation of diversity and inclusion programs, ESG initiatives, harassment and discrimination investigations, “me too” issues, fair-pay compliance, negotiation of employment contracts, and the use and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technology in the workplace. Emily also has successfully guided employers through various stages of pandemic response, including navigating state and federal sick pay laws, furloughs and layoffs, WARN Act requirements and return to work issues.

Emily serves as co-chair of the firm’s diversity & inclusion committee, and is a member of the firm’s national associates committee. She also is a regular speaker on labor and employment, and class action issues and is a contributing author to the firm’s Employment & Labor Perspectives blog. Emily is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States District Courts for the Central, Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of California, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia, and the Superior, Appellate and Supreme Courts of California and Georgia.

• Trial counsel in representative proof Rule 23 class and FLSA collective action cases tried to verdict.
• Defended numerous state wage and hour putative class and FLSA collective actions on behalf of clients in the retail, manufacturing, food processing, financial services, pharmaceutical and theatre industries.
• Obtained dismissals of California representative PAGA claims based on exhaustion, manageability and ascertainability grounds.
• Conducted investigations into harassment and discrimination claims and advise clients through the associated legal, media and employee relations risks.
• Represented management in employment contract and tort disputes, including actions involving the enforcement of noncompete and nonsolicitation covenants, misappropriation of trade secrets and tortious interference with contractual and business relations.
• Defended state and federal civil lawsuits, arbitrations, and Department of Labor investigations into alleged whistleblower violations.
• Defended numerous single- and multi-plaintiff harassment, discrimination and retaliation cases under state and federal law across the country, with particular experience in California.
• Advise nationwide retail, entertainment and manufacturing clients through COVID-19 pandemic response.
• Assist clients with the design and implementation of ESG and diversity and inclusion programs.
• Regularly advise and counsel clients on various employment matters, including preventative compliance strategies under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the wage and hour provisions of the California Labor Code, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII, the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Family Medical Leave Act.

• Recognized as a Top 50 Labor and Employment Litigator, Benchmark Litigation, 2024-2025
• Listed as a Litigation Star (2025) and a Labor and Employment Star (2018-2024), California, Benchmark Litigation
• Recommended for Labor and Employment Disputes (Including Collective Actions): Defense, Legal 500 United States, 2020-2024
• Recognized as a Leader in Labor & Employment, California, Chambers USA, 2023-2024

• Named a Mentorship Award finalist at the California Legal Awards, The Recorder, 2023

• Finalist for Mentor of the Year at the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2023 Women’s Leadership Symposium & Awards
• Named to Women of Influence: Attorneys, Los Angeles Business Journal, 2021 and 2023
• Named a Go-To Thought Leader Award recipient, The National Law Review, 2022
• Recognized as a Diversity & Inclusion Visionary in The Los Angeles Times’ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility magazine, 2022
• Recognized in the inaugural Leaders of Influence: Labor and Employment Attorneys in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Business Journal, 2022

• Recognized in The Los Angeles Times’ inaugural Business of Law Magazine as a Visionary, 2021-2022

• Finalist, Corporate Counsel: Women, Influence and Power in Law Awards as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion – Law Firm, 2021
• Nominee, Best Diversity & Inclusion Executive of the Year, Los Angeles Business Journal, 2021 and 2023
• Nominee for Champion of Women at the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2021 Women’s Leadership Series & Awards

• Recognized as a Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyer, 2020-2025

• Firm Attorney Nominee, Leaders in Law, Los Angeles Business Journal, 2020, 2021 (Finalist)

• Named to the Inaugural Thriving in their 40s awards, Los Angeles Business Journal, 2020

• Named among 2020 Women Worth Watching, Profiles in Diversity Journal, 2020

• Fellow, American Bar Foundation