Employment Litigator Benjamin A. Mains Joins Eversheds Sutherland as Counsel

The move highlights the firm’s continued growth in the region following the arrivals of S. Waqar Hasib in July and Peter Meier in February.

Mr. Mains is an employment litigator who represents public and private employers in all aspects of employment law, including harassment and discrimination claims in state and federal court; wrongful discharge; whistleblower retaliation; FMLA, CFRA, and ADA matters; wage-and-hour class actions; trade secret litigation; and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) representative actions. A former prosecutor and veteran trial attorney, Mr. Mains served as an assistant district attorney in California for eight years.

“Having taken 68 jury trials to verdict across the Golden State, Ben brings a level of trial experience that speaks for itself,” said Partner and Leader of Eversheds Sutherland's Silicon Valley office and Complex Technology Disputes practice Bradford Newman. “As California employers face heightened regulatory exposure—related to whistleblower retaliation, wage-and-hour enforcement, disability accommodations, and more—Ben’s ability to try the hard cases will be invaluable to our clients in Silicon Valley and beyond.”

Key Industry Experience Has Included:

• Assistant district attorney: Taking 68 jury trials to verdict in jurisdictions across California, conducting hundreds of evidentiary hearings, and negotiating thousands of settlement agreements.
• Client breadth: Representing a wide range of clients, from burgeoning start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, with a large portion of his practice focused on AI, life sciences and healthcare, fintech, energy, telecommunications, education, and construction.

Areas of Client Service Focus Will Include:

• Employment litigation: Representing public and private employers in all aspects of employment law, including discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation, failure to accommodate claims, whistleblower actions, wage-and-hour class actions and PAGA representative actions.
• Providing counsel: Advising employers on litigation avoidance and strategy, employee management, recruiting and hiring, handbooks, leaves of absence, discipline and termination, workforce reductions, discrimination and harassment, reasonable accommodation, and wage-and-hour compliance.

Mr. Mains has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Golden Gate University School of Law and has lectured and written on both criminal law reform and social justice policy.

Since last summer, the firm has expanded its US Litigation bench with nearly 30 lawyers, including nine partners.