Chosen One of Top 25 Attorneys

April 29, 2002 - May 12, 2002 John B. Golper started out his career with visions of advocating for worker’s rights and against the establishment. It wasn’t long before he switched sides. “I started out as a labor attorney working for a firm that did work for unions. After a couple years, what I realized was an enlightened employer would accomplish more for employees than unions,” said Golper. Since then, Golper has specialized in labor and employment law on behalf of management. His practice includes litigating wrongful discharge, employment discrimination and other employment disputes in federal and state courts, collective bargaining and arbitration and management representation to administrative agencies. He is recognized as a national authority on gender-based wage discrimination and comparable worth. Golper served on Governor Deukmejian’s California Comparable Worth Task Force, co-authoring a report that advocated against the adoption of comparable worth legislation. In the mid-1990s, Golper argued a case on behalf of Anheuser-Busch against an employee who claimed he was forced to resign. The employee cited working conditions in place more than two years earlier but had never shared those complaints with management, circumstances under which a number of workers at many different companies were making claims at the time. “A lot of people still cite the case that, if something goes on for two-and-a-half years and then you quit, it’s unlikely it forced you to quit,” said Golper. As in the case of Turner v. Anheuser-Busch, Golper often balances his time between defending employers and offering advice and counsel on good employment practices. “His strength and breadth of experience in employment law is pretty much incomparable,” said Helen Wasserman, a partner at the firm. - Shelly Garcia - - - - - -

How the Valley’s Top 25 Lawyers Were Selected The final list of the Valley’s Top 25 Lawyers was determined by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal editorial staff. The starting point for the process was the nearly 200 nominations received by attorneys and non -attorneys alike. While nominations were solicited in, among other sources, Bar Notes, the monthly publication of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, nobody involved with the bar association was involved in any way with the selection process. There are many kinds of legal practices, many kinds of attorneys and more that one way to evaluate their performance. The Business Journal did its best to take all the different (quantitative and qualitative) ways to measuring achievement into consideration before coming up with the final list. It is certainly safe to say that every individual on this list of 25 well respected in his or her profession.