Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP Continues Growth in Southern California; Adds Seven Attorneys

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Jun 19, 2013, 10:00 ET

MILWAUKEE, June 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP, (GSH), a full-service, national minority-owned law firm, announced today the addition of a Los Angeles/Pasadena office and the joining of two partners and five associates. Don A. Hernandez and Jack Schaedel join as partners from the firm Hernandez Schaedel & Associates (HS&A).

Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan represents midsized to Fortune 1000 Corporations and governmental entities, including such clients as Microsoft, Du Pont, Harley-Davidson, Los Angeles Unified School District, City of Los Angeles, Prudential, Johnson Controls, Rockwell Automation, Shell Oil, and Target. Microsoft recently elevated GSH to its Premier Provider Program for Legal and Corporate Affairs, placing the firm among a small handful of leading law firms doing substantive work for the software giant.

"HS&A is a premier Southern California law firm dedicated to the principles of excellence, ethics, client service and scholarship," said Emery Harlan, chairman, Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP. "The firm's roots as a boutique law firm focused on business litigation, employment law, intellectual property, and healthcare further strengthen those practice areas of Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan and expand our depth in Southern California."

Hernandez said, "I am extremely excited to join Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan. We share a strong commitment to many of the same values, including high quality, client responsiveness and cost-efficiency. But what attracted us most to Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan is its unequaled commitment to providing leadership and practice opportunities for diverse and women attorneys. While other law firms express these admirable goals, GSH has a long history of actually implementing them."

Schaedel added, "We are thrilled to be able to assist Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan in developing a strong and formidable West Coast presence and to offer our clients the resources and reach of a truly national practice."

Don A. Hernandez
Hernandez was the Managing Partner of Hernandez Schaedel & Associates, LLP. He specializes in complex business litigation, with emphases in intellectual property, healthcare and class action litigation. He has tried numerous cases to verdict before federal and state court juries, successfully appeared in appellate court numerous times and achieved significant litigation victories against some of the largest firms in the world. His background includes large law firm experience with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson; White & Case; and McKenna Conner & Cuneo (now McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP). Hernandez serves as Co-Chair of one ABA Committee and Vice-Chair of another. He recently served as Co-Chair of the Lawyer Representatives for the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The purpose of Lawyer Representatives is to attend and participate in meetings with the federal judiciary to discuss matters of importance to the bench and bar. Hernandez also volunteers as a settlement officer for the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Hernandez received his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he received the R. Hunter Sumner Trial Advocacy Award, and was Co-Chair of the Stanford Latino Law Students Association. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University with an A.B. in Government. At Harvard, he served as Secretary General of the 1982 Harvard Model United Nations and as Director on the International Relations Council. He is admitted to practice in California, as well as the United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California, and the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits.

Jack Schaedel
Schaedel is a leading Pasadena employment lawyer. As a founding partner of Hernandez Schaedel & Associates, LLP, he has devoted his 17-year career to litigation of labor and employment law matters and advising employers in managing their workforce and complying with federal and California employment law. Schaedel also is a trained and skilled mediator, having earned a certificate from the world-renowned Straus Institute at Pepperdine University.

Schaedel is the Chairman of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Pasadena Bar Association and is active in the Labor and Employment Law and Small Firms sections of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. Schaedel is also a Vice President of the Board of Directors of the La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce and the Advisory Board of ConCISE, the consulting firm run by The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. He is a past President of the La Cañada Flintridge Educational Foundation, which raises over $2,000,000 annually to support class size reduction and special programs in the La Cañada Unified School District.

Schaedel graduated fromCornell University, School of Industrial & Labor Relations, with a B.S. in Industrial & Labor Relations. He earned his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law. He is admitted to practice in California, United States District Court, Central District of California and the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

About Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan
Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP (www.gshllp.com) is a national minority-owned law firm with 16 offices located in Atlanta; Boca Raton, Fla.; Boston; Chicago; Cleveland; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Milwaukee; Nashville, Tenn.; New York; Phoenix; Pasadena, Calif., Stamford, Conn.; Washington, D.C.; Wayne, N.J; and West Des Moines, Iowa. The firm represents midsized to Fortune 1000 Corporations, governmental entities, and individuals in the areas of litigation, employment, environmental, corporate and transactional, real estate, public finance, intellectual property & technology, and energy, communications & utilities law. Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP practices law with a commitment to quality, diversity and to the communities it serves.