Douglas N. Silverstein

Douglas N. Silverstein has devoted more than a quarter century to litigating labor and employment cases. As a founding partner of Kesluk, Silverstein, Jacob & Morrison, P.C., he leads the firm’s trial, labor and employment, and class action efforts.

Douglas N. Silverstein Employment Attorney

Doug N. Silverstein spent more than a decade exclusively representing companies at the national labor and employment law firms of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Ballard, Rosenberg, Golper & Savitt; and Littler Mendelson, where he represented numerous Fortune 500 corporations.

In addition to his extensive experience with employment law, Doug has substantial traditional labor experience before the National Labor Relations Board and even served as lead counsel in Southern California throughout the 2003 grocery strike.

Doug has also litigated ERISA cases with significant amounts at stake. Thanks to his extensive record of success, Doug has been recognized by his fellow attorneys, the national news media, and the general public as an employment law expert, and regularly writes and lectures on labor issues.

Protecting the Rights of Working Families

For the past 17 years, Doug has focused his practice on protecting the rights of employees in a wide variety of areas, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, whistleblowers, trade secrets, non-competes, and wage and hour class actions. In addition to his litigation practice, Doug negotiates employment and severance agreements on behalf of executives.

Nationwide Experience

Doug has argued cases in the California Courts of Appeal as well as the Second, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits and has published numerous opinions establishing law on issues of first impression. More importantly, he takes cases to trial. In the last eight years alone, Doug has taken 17 cases to trial, winning 16 of them. In all six of his trials in which punitive damages were at issue, he obtained punitive damages for his clients without fail.

Doug has been appointed lead class counsel in dozens of wage and hour class actions, and prior to joining a law firm, Doug served as a Judicial Extern Clerk to former Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit, and a Judicial Extern Clerk to Judge Irving Shimer of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The Los Angeles County Bar Association

Doug is the Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) Litigation Section Executive Committee, where he meets regularly with federal and state court judges and bar leaders to advance the cause of justice. He also serves on the Los Angeles Superior Court Bench Bar Committee.

Doug will serve as the President of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA) in 2022 and is a past Chair of CAALA’s Las Vegas Convention, the largest plaintiff’s trial convention in the country. Admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in California, Doug is a member of the American, California, and Los Angeles County Bars Labor and Employment Law Sections, the National and California Employment Lawyers Associations, the American Association for Justice, and the Consumer Attorneys Organizations of California and Los Angeles.

Awards and Accreditations

For seven years straight, Doug has been honored as one of the top labor and employment attorneys in California by The Daily Journal. In the past ten years alone, Doug has had more than 50 speaking and writing engagements. He has been consistently designated a Super Lawyer and was even asked to evaluate other labor and employment attorneys under consideration for being named a Super Lawyer.

Doug earned his JD, magna cum laude, at Whittier Law School, where he was the Senior Articles Editor of the Whittier Law Review, won numerous awards in moot court and for academics, and received several merit scholarships. He earned his MBA at Nova University, where he was awarded special recognition for outstanding academic achievement, and was a Henry King Stanford Scholar at the University of Miami, Florida, where he earned his BA.

An Attorney You Can Trust

Through his class action practice, Doug has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to legal aid foundations in California that provide access to justice for those unable to afford it. Doug has been a Board Member and General Counsel of the non-profit Tripod, the leading education and support organization for deaf children and their families. He is also an Honorary Board Member of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers for Charity (LATLC).

Doug is conversant in Spanish and has coached his children on numerous sports teams, winning several league championships and the state championship in soccer. When not practicing law, he can be found watching his children play ice hockey. Prior to becoming an attorney, Doug worked as a sommelier.