Client-Centered Legal Advocates

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 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.

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 LLP, 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 nearly 30 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.