Overview
In defending and advising employers through the challenging terrain of labor and employment law and litigation, attorney Andrew Lichtenstein combines subject-matter experience with a deep understanding of his clients’ businesses and objectives to navigate them to optimal results.
Andrew’s practice covers the full spectrum of labor and employment law issues affecting employers. He is a fierce defender of employers in high-stakes labor and employment litigation, as well as an essential advisor to employers in navigating the challenges of wage and hour compliance and litigation and reputational exposure. His clients have included large tech, media, and pharmaceutical companies; private universities; and airlines.
Andrew represents employers in a variety of employment matters, including wage and hour class and representative actions; alleged harassment, discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower, and wrongful termination lawsuits; trade secret disputes; and government investigations and enforcement proceedings. He is experienced at litigating in a wide range of forums, such as trials, arbitrations, administrative proceedings, and mediations, and representing employers in labor disputes under collective bargaining agreements, before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and under the Railway Labor Act.
As an advisor, Andrew has helped clients avoid litigation altogether by solving their most complex compliance and operational problems; providing practical and strategic advice on personnel decisions; helping structure and implement reductions in force; conducting neutral third-party investigations; and heading off legal disputes before they gain momentum. He also prepares for clients compliant employment policies, handbooks, arbitration agreements, and employment-related, executive, and other service agreements. Clients turn to Andrew for advice on a full range of employment issues, including wage and hour compliance, occupational health and safety, benefits, employee privacy, leaves of absence, vacation, sick leave, and union negotiations.
Before joining Epstein Becker Green, Andrew was Counsel at an international law firm, where he focused on labor and employment law and litigation matters.
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Focus Areas
Services
- Business Torts, Competition & Trade Secrets
- Class Actions
- Employment Compliance Counseling
- Employment Litigation
- Employment, Labor & Workforce Management
- Labor Management Relations
- Litigation & Business Disputes
- Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility
- Wage and Hour
- Whistleblowing and Compliance
- Workforce Restructuring and Other Cost-Saving Mechanisms
- Workplace Investigations
Trending Issues
Experience
- Won the dismissal at the pleading stage of a wage and hour class action alleging the misclassification of independent contractors, and successfully defended the decision on appeal.
- Served as independent counsel for a Special Committee of the Board of Directors of a large corporation and conducted an independent internal investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct.
- Defeated a union at a representation hearing before the NLRB, at which the union sought an election for an overly broad bargaining unit. Andrew advised and assisted his client through the organizing campaign, which ended with the employees voting against the union.
- Won arbitration of a union grievance challenging the client's decisions regarding the furlough and recall of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Obtained summary judgment in a complex, nationwide wage and hour class action by former employees challenging the company's continuing education policy under the Fair Labor Standard Act and state law.
- Defeated several harassment, discrimination, and retaliation lawsuits, including a sexual harassment complaint against an international travel company on a motion to dismiss and a whistleblower complaint filed against a pharmaceutical company.
- Defeated class certification of meal/rest break and overtime claims in a wage and hour class action brought against an airline under California law.
- Successfully moved to compel three related wage and hour class actions against a fitness company to individual arbitration.
Recognition
- The Legal 500 United States, Trade Secrets (Litigation and Non-Contentious Matters) (2024)
Credentials
Education
- Loyola Law School (J.D., summa cum laude, 2011)
- Order of the Coif
- Chief Developments Editor, Loyola Los Angeles Law Review
- University of Southern California (MFA, 2003)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (B.A., 1996)
Bar Admissions
- California
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
Professional & Community Involvement
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
- Orange County Bar Association
Media
Events
Insights
Insights
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Receives National Recognition and Top Rankings in the 2024 Edition of Legal 500
3 minute read - Media CoverageAndrew Lichtenstein Featured in “On the Move”1 minute read
- BlogsThe Industrial Welfare Commission Returns with Plans for More Protections for California Employees7 minute read
- Media CoverageAndrew Lichtenstein Featured in “Epstein Becker Picks Up Ex-O'Melveny Atty in LA”2 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green Continues West Coast Expansion with Employment Attorney Andrew Lichtenstein in Los Angeles ...2 minute read
- Publications
United We Stand, Disparate We Fall: Putting Individual Victims of Reverse Redlining in Touch with Their Class, Loyola Los ...
2010