Julie Totten

Partner

Sacramento

San Francisco

Julie Totten, who leads Orrick’s Global Employment Law and Litigation Practice Group, built her reputation by helping companies prevent and resolve their most challenging litigation and compliance issues in the employment law arena.

In doing so, Julie closely collaborates with each client, gathering an in-depth understanding of their specific tensions, challenges and objectives. Legal 500 noted she “truly understands corporate politics and works with in-house counsel to understand the intersections of legal advice and business objectives.” Julie then draws upon nearly three decades of experience to guide clients towards the best possible resolution. Her client-focused approach is one of many reasons she was selected to lead Orrick’s global employment practice, which Chambers ranks as one of the country’s foremost practices and describes Julie as “a big thinker and a thought leader.”

Julie has experience defending both class actions and individual plaintiff cases. She has successfully defended clients in trial and arbitration and helps clients with all types of employment matters, including complex wage-and-hour class, collective and representative actions; pay equity and promotion cases; whistleblower retaliation actions, discrimination, harassment and retaliation litigation and trade secret and non-compete matters. She also guides clients through systemic government investigations and audits. Julie is proactive in helping clients avoid litigation by assisting them with the development of policies and practices designed to minimize exposure, including advice and counselling work in the areas of AI and DEI in selection and recruiting.

Julie is honored to be a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment and a member of the American Employment Law Council. She also served as a Council Member of the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section.

Engagements
Some of Julie’s more notable engagements include the following:
- Defending a major technology company in a nationwide class action alleging that the company, an alleged agent of its employer customers, engaged in a pattern or practice of hiring discrimination based on race, age, and disability discrimination and obtained dismissal of all allegations of intentional discrimination. The Plaintiff alleges that the client’s screening tools used by its customers screen out applicants in a discriminatory manner using artificial intelligence.
- Successfully defended a biotech company at trial as to allegations involving race discrimination and retaliation.
- Successfully resolved, on an individual basis, and pre-suit, threatened gender discrimination class action involving systemic pay and promotion discrimination against a major pharmaceutical industry company.
- Defended several related co-defendants in a nationwide Fair Labor Standards Act collective action involving independent contractor and joint employment issues, employing a novel procedural strategy to change jurisdiction following several years of active litigation handled by other counsel, thereby significantly driving down the value of the case.
- Defeated class certification in wage and hour class actions involving technology and communications companies.
- Obtained summary judgment for a major healthcare company involving claims of race discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, wrongful termination and defamation claim brought by a C-suite executive.
- Successfully represented a professional services firm in several overlapping class and collective actions challenging the exempt status of accountants and other entry-level professionals.