22nd Annual Advanced Wage & Hour/Arbitration Seminar

The California Employment Lawyers Association's Wage & Hour and Arbitration Committees present a hybrid full-day, advanced-level seminar with two distinct concurrent sessions focusing on (1) wage and hour law and (2) employment, FEHA, and whistleblower arbitrations. This high-quality program will help plaintiffs’ attorneys stay abreast of these rapidly evolving practice areas.

Wage & Hour Sessions
In addition to an annual case law update and legislative review, panels will feature a discussion of wily tactics from the defense side, how to anticipate them, and how to deal with them as they come up. Other topics will cover underutilized arguments to attack arbitration agreements or appealing a grant of motion to compel arbitration. Another panel will focus on things your data analyst wants you to know. The day will close with a panel focusing on preparing a trial plan for class/PAGA actions and negotiating jury instructions and verdict forms.

Arbitration Sessions (employment, FEHA, and whistleblower)
The seminar will also feature concurrent sessions focused on arbitration, including a panel on advanced strategies for opposing arbitration that will explore issues such as unconscionability, Labor Code section 432.6, and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. Other panels will include avoiding landmines and procedural pitfalls after being compelled to arbitration, key differences in motion deadlines under federal and state rules, as well as conducting a successful evidentiary hearing. In another session, speakers will talk about lessons learned and share insights from recent successes. The day will close with a panel on strategies for maximizing damages to get high emotional distress damages in arbitration.

Seminar Admission Requirements for CELA Associate Members and Non-CELA Members:
The seminar is exclusively for attorneys representing workers. You MUST complete the declaration to attend the seminar. Full-time attorney mediators/arbitrators, law school professors, law students, and paralegals, are exempt from seminar admission requirements.  No individual vendor or vendor company employees' registrations allowed.

SEMINAR AGENDA 

In person and virtual* registration now open!
*Virtual attendance only available to CELA attorney and legal staff members and Marketplace mediators and arbitrators.

WAGE & HOUR SPEAKERS
Lawrence Beall, Jim Cordes, Barbara DuVan-Clarke, Arrash Fattahi, Jim Finberg, Danielle Fuschetti, 
Hannah Kieschnick, Tessa King, Jennifer Kramer, Alvin Lindsay, Nora Ostrofe, Hunter Pyle, Nathan Reese, Brent Robinson,
William Tran, Aaron Woolfson, Faik Yetgin, Mariko Yoshihara, and John Yslas

ARBITRATION SPEAKERS
J. Bernard Alexander, Jonathan Andrews, Michael Diliberto, Hon. Lynn Duryee (Ret.), Zak Franklin, Carol Gillam,
Kevin Gilliland, Jessica Hart, Laura Horton, Ann Hull, Rebecca Kagin, Hon. James Kleinberg (Ret.), Hon. Michael Latin (Ret.),
Tina Locklear, Aanand Mehtani, Samuel Nielson, Sang (James) Park, Hon. Winifred Y. Smith (Ret.), Jeannette Vaccaro,
Matt Vandall, Hon. Timothy Volkmann (Ret.), Stephen Wiard, and Kenneth Yoon

Seminar Planning Committee
Genevieve Casey, Danielle Fuschetti, Kevin Gilliland, Danielle GruppChang, Ann Hull, Christina Le,
Aanand Mehtani, Sang (James) Park, Brent Robinson, Ian Silvers, and Faik Yetgin.
CELA Wage & Hour Committee
CELA Arbitration Committee

This seminar will qualify for 6.25 hours General MCLE credit for in-person and virtual attendees. CELA is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider, #2292 

CELA THANKS ITS SEMINAR SPONSORS AND EXHIBITORS

CHAMPION SPONSOR

Oakland Marriott City Center
1001 Broadway,
Oakland, CA 94607

Online registration closes at 3:00pm on April 30*.  Thereafter, only walk-in registrations are allowed (in-person registration only).

No cancellations or refunds.

All attendee substitutions must be cleared/approved through the CELA administrative office first. Contact info@cela.org. No attendee substitution requests (in-person or virtual) will be approved after noon on Friday, April 24, 2026.

Registration Substitutions: In-person or virtual attendee substitutions can only be transferred to current CELA attorney members who qualify to attend or CELA Marketplace mediators and arbitrators.  Additional registration fees may apply.

CLE Tracking: CLE credit will be awarded for live in-person or real-time virtual attendance only.

- No partial registrations - registrants can only attend in person OR virtually for the entirety of the event.

Changes to Registration Type: Due to banquet and hotel deadlines, the deadline to make any changes to registration type (in-person to virtual or vice-versa) is Friday, April 24, 2026, at 12 PM PST.

*Due to virtual registration setup time, we cannot accommodate any virtual registrations after 3:00pm on April 30.