Partner |

Cheryl D. Orr is a partner and co-chair of the Labor and Employment Practice Group.  She concentrates her practice on defending employers against FLSA collective actions and state and federal wage and hour class actions.  Cheryl also regularly litigates discrimination, harassment, and unfair competition claims, conducts high-level workplace investigations, and offers employer advice and counseling.  Cheryl joined Drinker Biddle from Carlton DiSante & Freudenberger LLP where she was managing partner of their San Francisco office.

Published Opinions:

• Wells v. Board of Trustees of California State University, 393 F.Supp.2d 990 (N.D.Cal. 2005).
• Wolfe v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Insurance Co., 46 Cal.App.4th 554 (1996).
• Spellman v. Securities, Annuities & Ins. Services, Inc., 8 Cal.App.4th 452 (1992).

Representative Experience and Accomplishments:

• Acted as lead trial counsel on over 20 multi-party wage and hour actions including state and federal class actions, national FLSA collective actions and Business & Professions Code section 17200 representative actions.  Recent wage and hour accomplishments include:
  • Obtaining complete dismissal of a national FLSA collective action involving "on call" pay and overtime issues for the client's drivers;
  • Prevailing on summary judgment to dismiss entire state wage and hour class action for statutory and contractual overtime claims.
  • Defeating conditional certification of a national class in a FLSA collective action and then prevailing on a decertification motion in a case involving travel pay and overtime issues;
  • Bringing a demurrer to dismiss a Business & Professions Code section 17200 case and having plaintiff voluntarily dismiss this overtime exemption case while the motion was still pending;
  • Convincing plaintiff to dismiss class allegations in actions prior to any significant discovery due to candid discourse over the underlying facts.
• Represented trustee of oil distribution company's Employee Stock Ownership Plan ("ESOP") in ERISA litigation against the former trustee and owners obtaining favorable settlement of $13.1 million on behalf of client.
• Supervised defense of numerous single-plaintiff suits on issues ranging from wrongful termination to discrimination to executive stock disputes in state and federal court.  Recent victories include obtaining complete summary judgment in two separate Superior Court actions.
• Regularly conduct internal high-level investigations regarding sensitive client issues including investigation for national media chain arising out of statements raised in antitrust trial by newspaper publisher.

Bar Memberships.  Cheryl is admitted to practice in all California State Courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

In General.  Cheryl received her bachelor's degree in political science magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota .  She received her J.D. from Columbia University Law School.  She is a frequent lecturer on employment law topics at events sponsored by Lorman Education Services and Bridgeport Programs.