Hua Gallai & Gonzalez, LLP
Serving your needs in labor and employment law, civil litigation, and insurance disputes
PRACTICE AREAS
PRACTICE
AREAS
The combined experience of our attorneys includes many decades of experience civil, labor and employment litigation, wage and hour class action, sexual harassment, and discrimination. The firm has appeared before state and federal courts in California, before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and before the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The firm has experience in representing clients sued in other states as well.
OUR VISION
Our vision is to utilize the law to zealously represent our clients, provide advice and counseling, and try to solve our clients’ legal problems, whether before the judiciary or in administrative proceedings in local, state, and federal governmental agencies.
OUR ATTORNEYS
NICHOLAS
HUA
Nicholas Hua graduated with cum laude honors, Order of the Coif, from Santa Clara University School of Law. He was on the Santa Clara Law Review and Honors Moot Court, and published in the Law Review in the area of sexual harassment. Prior to that, he graduated from UC Berkeley in the top of his class in 1999. He previously externed for Judge James Ware (Ret.) of the United States District Court in the Northern District of California.
Since graduation from law school in 2003, Mr. Hua clerked for two judges with the Los Angeles Superior Court, the Honorable Gregory Alarcon and the Honorable Judge Alexander Williams III (Ret.) where he gained broad expertise on numerous areas of litigation, including employment, civil, and real estate matters. After his judicial clerkship, Mr. Hua worked at three large law firms, starting first with Hinshaw & Culbertson in San Francisco, and Jackson Lewis in San Francisco, and in the international law firm of Perkins Coie LLP, in its Los Angeles Office.
Mr. Hua, along with his colleague Giacomo Gallai, successfully tried a Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act case and obtained a favorable jury verdict. Mr. Hua has handled several bench trials with favorable results for his clients. Mr. Hua has represented and advised clients’ civil and real estate disputes in wage and hour compliance, drafted employee handbooks, and conducted trainings and investigations for clients. He is well versed in all aspects of civil litigation. He is also very experienced in disability discrimination claims, wage and hour class actions.
Mr. Hua is on the board of various charitable organizations working in the areas of AIDS/HIV in Southern California and animal rescue. Previously, he volunteered at the Asian Law Caucus’s legal clinic, Filipino American Bar Association clinic, AIDS Legal Referral Panel clinic, and with a community organizing nonprofit in the Bayview – Hunters Point, helping communities of color navigate the law in our society. Mr. Hua was formerly on the board of the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, and California Minority Counsel Program, among other professional and community services.
Mr. Hua has also represented clients sued out of state, including in Oklahoma and has taken out of state depositions as well as across the state.
GIACOMO
GALLAI
Giacomo Gallai has a diverse background and extensive experience in broad areas of law, including civil, employment, real estate and insurance, from pre-litigation stages all the way through trial, post-trial and appeal in state and federal courts, as well as in arbitration. Mr. Gallai is also experienced in class actions and has been appointed as class counsel in both state and federal courts.
Mr. Gallai is fluent in Italian and obtained his first law degree from the University of Florence, School of Law, in Italy in 1999. After working for an Italian law firm dealing with transactional and litigated matters, Mr. Gallai began his legal studies at Pepperdine University, School of Law, in Malibu, California. In 2003, Mr. Gallai gained his Juris Doctor degree cum laude from Pepperdine, graduating in the top 8% of his class and is a published law review author.
As a law clerk for the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, before moving into private practice, Mr. Gallai then obtained important expertise in all aspects of litigation and civil procedure and on broad areas of law as well as valuable insight in the inner workings of Courts.
In addition to devoting to his practice, Mr. Gallai is active in his community, where he has volunteered for various causes and organizations. Mr. Gallai has also been speaker at various organizations, including also the Pepperdine University School of Law, Rotary, the Bocconi University summer program at UCLA, as well as for the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles.
GIACOMO
GALLAI
STEVEN
GONZALEZ
Steven Gonzalez has been practicing law since 1997, after graduating from Stanford Law School. He has specialized in employment law for most of that time, first at Perkins Coie, an AmLaw 50 firm, for 15 years, and then was the general counsel and head of the Labor and Employment Department at a medium size litigation boutique for an additional five years. Mr. Gonzalez is very well regarded in many areas of labor and employment law.
He has represented and advised companies across a variety of sectors, including retail, hospitality, health care, manufacturing, logistics, and emerging technologies. Mr. Gonzalez has broad litigation experience, including wage and hour class actions and single-plaintiff discrimination, harassment, and retaliation cases, as well as representation regarding charges before the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and the California Labor Commissioner. As an attorney with over 20 years of experience, Mr. Gonzalez also has gained broad expertise on numerous other areas of civil law. Mr. Gonzalez has advised clients in wage and hour compliance, drafted employee handbooks, and conducted trainings and investigations for clients.
Together with Mr. Hua, Mr. Gonzalez has successfully represented a Southern California retailer chain, in many areas of labor and employment law from advice and counseling, handbook review, as well as appeared before the county to resolve a very large wage and penalty order.
In the wake of the Covid-19 and coronavirus, the firm has advised several clients on how to navigate emergent orders from the state and local agencies.
Together with Mr. Hua, Mr. Gonzalez has first chaired a bench trial that resulted in a favorable decision for our firm’s client.
CLASS ACTION
CLASS
ACTION
The firm has been appointed as class counsel in several class actions, alleging misclassification in the gig economy and other wage & hour violations, such as failure to pay wages, meal and rest break violations, unfair business practices, and other claims asserted against restaurant chains and various other industries.
This firm has also successfully prosecuted claims under the California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (often referred to as “PAGA”) resulting in recovery for the State of California and the aggrieved employees.
Contact
Hua Gallai &
Gonzalez, LLP
OUR ADDRESS
201 N. Brand Blvd. Suite 200
Glendale, California 91203
Email: nick@hgglawyers.com
Tel: 747-215-9675