Source: http://mhpsf.com/attorneys/cliff-palefsky/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 12:10:59+00:00

Document:
Cliff Palefsky is consistently recognized in professional surveys and legal publications as one of the leading employment and civil rights lawyers in the country. The Recorder legal newspaper described him as a “force of nature” due to his involvement in many of the leading cases and legislation that have come to define the field of employment law.
He has helped draft multiple pieces of legislation and frequently testifies before National and State legislative bodies. In 2009 Mr. Palefsky was asked to testify before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on the issue of whether mandatory binding arbitration is fair to employees.
Mr. Palefsky has been included as one of the Best Lawyers in America every year since that survey’s inception in 1986 and was named Best Lawyer of the Year in the San Francisco Labor and Employment Law category in 2011. In 2013 Best Lawyers named Mr. Palefsky Best Lawyer of the Year in the San Francisco Employment Law – Individuals category.
Mr. Palefsky has been called one of the “Most Feared Lawyers” by Human Resources Magazine and the San Francisco Business Journal. In 2010 Mr. Palefsky received the California Lawyer Magazine Attorney of the Year Award for his work as part of a litigation team that obtained a $78.5 million settlement – the largest settlement in the history of the U.S. Department of Education. The San Francisco Chronicle identified him as one of the top 25 attorneys in Northern California. Chambers USA described him as “the leading plaintiff side employment lawyer in California” and named McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky as the leading plaintiff employment firm in the state.
Mr. Palefsky has been named to the Law Dragon 500 listing on four occasions: 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2005) (2007); 500 Leading Litigators in America (2006); and 500 Leading Plaintiff Lawyers (2007).
Mr. Palefsky has argued eight cases to the California Supreme Court and has been involved in numerous landmark and precedent setting cases such as Sonic-Calabasas v. Moreno , Rulon Miller v. IBM, Foley v. Interactive Data, Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare, Little v. Auto Stiegler, Gentry v. Circuit City, and Duffield v. Robertson Stephens, among others. He has been deeply involved in the development of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing in the employment context and especially in the application of the doctrine in the context of executive compensation, stock options and bonuses.
He was a founding board member of the National Employment Lawyers Association and served on its Executive Board for 10 years. He is the co-chair of NELA’s Mandatory Arbitration Task Force and was co-chair of the Privacy, ADR and Securities Industry Arbitration Committees. He also served on the Executive Board of the California Employment Lawyers Association for 12 years and is presently on the organization’s Advisory Board.
He helped draft the nations first worker privacy, drug testing and lifestyle discrimination laws which served as models for similar legislation across the country. He has also been deeply involved in both state and federal legislative activities protecting the rights of workers.
Cliff was an advisor to the American Law Institute on the drafting of the Restatement of Employment Law and is a co-author of the CEB’s Wrongful Employment Termination Practice treatise. He is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and has authored numerous articles on employment law and mandatory arbitration. Mr. Palefsky is a frequent speaker nationally on subjects relating to employment law and the field of ADR.
Some people are guided by a moral compass; San Francisco employment attorney Cliff Palefsky has a moral GPS.
Lawdragon presents its annual guide to the nation’s top lawyers: The Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America.
The California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year Awards recognize lawyers throughout the state whose legal work made a profound impact in 2009.

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