Dean Harvey Named 2020 “California Trailblazers” by The Recorder

The Recorder has named Lieff Cabraser partner Dean M. Harvey to its second annual list of “California Trailblazers.” The award recognizes 52 lawyers who “have made significant marks on the practice, policy and technological advancement of the practice, and who are truly agents of change.”

The Recorder highlights Dean’s work leading the High-Tech Antitrust class action against Google, Apple, Intel and other tech giants for allegedly conspiring to suppress the mobility and compensation of their technical employees. To retain workers, the companies began operating under a “no poach” agreement, where they would no longer recruit each other’s employees, limiting workers’ ability to change companies and move to higher paying jobs. Dean pioneered the data strategy that successfully proved the companies’ repeated violations of the federal anti-trust laws, and secured a $435 million award to the 64,000 affected tech industry employees. This landmark case resulted in the largest recovery (by far) of any class action asserting antitrust claims in the employment context and is one of several cases in which Dean has used anti-trust laws to protect workers’ rights.

“It’s really been a thrill to be a part of a lot of the leading cases in this area and to help courts wrestle with this and steer the law in, I think a good direction,” Dean noted. “The companies want to keep their employees, but they don’t want to pay them what they are worth. And what you’re worth in the employment setting is what an alternative employer is willing to pay.”

Congratulations to Dean on this outstanding accomplishment!