Randall E. Strauss

Top rated Employment Litigation attorney in Oakland, California

Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer
Randall E. Strauss
Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer

Practice Areas: Employment Litigation, Civil Rights, Employment & Labor; view more

Licensed in California since: 1993

Education: University of California Berkeley School of Law

Selected to Super Lawyers: 2019 - 2025

Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer

1999 Harrison Street, Suite 1600
Oakland, CA 94612 Visit website

Details

Randall E. Strauss is Partner at Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer. In California, he represents clients in matters of civil litigation, business law, environmental law, employment law, civil appeals, personal injury and products liability. In 2009, The Recorder included Mr. Strauss in its Top Verdicts group, and in 2011, the Top Employment Law Firms. He was also a recipient of the American Jurisprudence Awards in legal research and writing, civil procedure, and procedure I and II.

In 1988, Mr. Strauss graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts. He then obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1993. While in law school, he was a member of the Golden Gate University Law Review. As a knowledgeable, experienced attorney, Mr. Strauss taught a class on trial techniques in employment litigation in 2014.

Mr. Strauss is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association, the California Employment Lawyers Association, the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers’ Association, the Consumer Attorneys of California, Public Justice and the State Bar of California.

With several seven figure settlements in his history, Mr. Strauss has earned his reputation as a successful, zealous advocate for his clients. For his high ethical standards and long list of successful results, he holds the highest peer rating possible of AV Preeminent* from Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Strauss is admitted to practice in California state courts and before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

* AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Rating™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.

Practice areas

Employment Litigation: Plaintiff, Civil Rights, Employment & Labor: Employee, Civil Litigation: Plaintiff

Focus areas

Disability, Discrimination, Employment Discrimination, Employment Law - Employee, Employment Law - Employer, Race Discrimination, Retaliation, Sexual Harassment, Whistleblower, Wrongful Termination

  • 50% Employment Litigation: Plaintiff
  • 20% Civil Rights
  • 20% Employment & Labor: Employee
  • 10% Civil Litigation: Plaintiff

First Admitted: 1993, California

Professional Webpage: https://www.giccb.com/Our-Firm/Randall-E-Strauss.shtml

Bar/Professional Activity:
  • National Employment Lawyers Association
  • California Employment Lawyers Association
  • U.S. District Court Central District of California, 1998
  • State Bar of California, Member, 1993 - Present
  • U.S. District Court Eastern District of California, 1994
  • U.S. District Court Southern District of California, 1997
  • U.S. District Court Northern District of California, 1997
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 1994
  • Alameda County Contra Costa County Trial Lawyers Association, 2007 - Present
  • California, 1993
  • Consumer Attorneys of California, 2009 - Present
  • The American Association for Justice
  • Public Justice, 2016
  • Consumer Attorneys of California
Verdicts/Settlements (Case Results):
  • O'Haire v. City and County of San Francisco and Greg Suhr -$725,000 settlement on behalf of whistleblower who claimed the Chief of Police fired her in retaliation for participating in a disciplinary case against him before he was appointed chief., 2015
  • Dadesho v. Government of Iraq, 139 F.3d 766 (9th Cir. 1998)
  • Li v. Trendwest: Plaintiff verdict
  • Andrews v. Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC   Plaintiffs' verdict worth over $2.7 million., 2013
  • Wiley v. Wyndham Vacation Ownership Inc.  $1,000,000 Plaintiff verdict in Employment:retaliation trial.  Listed The Recorder's Top Verdicts for 2010.  Verdict worth over $2,000,000 with attorneys fees and costs.  At trial, Mr. Strauss gave the opening and closing statements and questioned many of the witnesses., 2010
  • Co-lead counsel in Andrews v. LLNS which settled on September 30, 2015 for $37.25 Million.  Represented 129 plaintiffs in a consolidated action following a mass layoff at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.  After two separate 60 day trials of test plaintiffs claims, and multiple days of mediation over several months, the case settled.  During the two trials, Mr. Strauss gave the opening and closing statements and questioned many of the witnesses., 2015
Videos:
Pro bono/Community Service:
  • Volunteer - Alameda County Food Bank, 2019
  • Oversee firm's student internship programs , 2025
Honors/Awards:
  • Recipient, American Jurisprudence Awards in Civil Procedure, Procedure I and II and Legal Research and Writing
  • 1-23-2025 Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer was selected as the Law Firm of the Year by the Alameda County Bar Association. The firm supports the bar association, participates as section leaders and beyond committee involvement partnered and hosted the first Mocktail Mix & Mingle social event. This alcohol-free event was a huge success., Alameda County Bar Association: Distinguished Service Award- Law firm of the year, Alameda County Bar Association, 2025
  • J. Gary Gwilliam and Randall E. Strauss Colombo, et al. vs. BNC Mortgage, Inc., et al.JUSTICE FOR WOMEN WHO BLEW THE WHISTLE ON FRAUDULENT LENDING Six women who worked at the Sacramento branch of BNC Mortgage, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lehman Brothers that specialized in sub-prime mortgages, each complained to their superiors about fraudulent lending practices in 2005. Each of them was told to look the other way and when they persisted in expressing their concerns, these women were subjected to retaliation, sexual harassment and other forms of abuse that was designed to force them to quit. The sexual harassment was inflicted by a supervisor as a direct response to their whistleblowing about fraudulent loan packages and was sanctioned by company officials as a way to force the women either to resign or to approve falsified loans in order to get the harassment to stop. These women were sounding an alarm that went unheeded. Lax and fraudulent underwriting packages led to the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market, helping to precipitate the downfall of Lehman Brothers and with it the worldwide economy. Rather than being lauded as heroes for reporting practices that ultimately led to financial ruin for many thousands of Americans, each of these women were instead victimized by the company they were trying to protect. BNC closed its doors and Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in January 2008. After nearly 14years of litigation, with bankruptcy imposing a threat that no compensation would be possible, these six women received a significant settlement. Each of them would say that they battled this corporate behemoth for so many years because of the harm caused to the public by BNC and Lehman Brothers’ actions.This case vindicated the rights of whistleblowers who were forced to resign after shedding light on corporate greed and wrongdoing, upheld the rights of sexual harassment victims in the workplace, and shed light on the fraudulent lending practices of one of the largest financial institutions in the world., CAOC Consumer Attorney of the Year Finalist, https://s3.amazonaws.com/membercentralcdn/sitedocuments/ca/ca/0312/1716312.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIHKD6NT2OL2HNPMQ&Expires=1602200014&Signature=4mVo5uchNZ%2FDy88GjGbu0KlP2F0%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22Award%20fin, 2020
  • Recognized as lead counsel in Wiley v. Wyndham in the Recorder's Top Verdicts - California's Million Dollar Verdicts, June 28, 2010., Top Verdicts, The Recorder, 2010
  • Top Employment Law Groups, The Recorder, 2011
  • Nation's Top One Percent, National Association of Distinguished Counsel, 2016
  • Recognized by the Recorder as being a member of one of Northern California's best employment law teams., The Recorder
  • AV Rated
  • Finalist - Trial Lawyer of the Year 2016, Public Justice, 2016
Educational Background:
  • University of California, Berkeley   BA in History and Political Science, 1988
  • Full Tuition Honors Scholar at Golden Gate University School of Law; AmJur Award Recipient in Civil Procedure and Legal Research and Writing; Law Revew Member - Golden Gate University School of Law
Scholarly Lectures/Writings:
  • Effectively Handling Multiple Plaintiff Employment Law Cases, Co-Author, Effectively Handling Multiple Plaintiff Employment Law Cases, Wrongful Discharge Litigation Strategies, 2013
  • Golden Gate University Law Review, Member, 1990 - 1991
  • Employment Law, Trial Techniques in Employment Litigation, 2014
  • Trial Techniques in Employment Litigation, Co-Presenter, Alameda County Bar Association, Employment Law, 2014
Other Outstanding Achievements:
  • Listed in The Recorder's Top Employment Law Firms on Plaintiff side., 2012
  • Finalist - Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year, 2016

Office location for Randall E. Strauss

1999 Harrison Street, Suite 1600
Oakland, CA 94612

Phone: 510-823-0323

Selections

7 Years Super Lawyers
  • Super Lawyers: 2019 - 2025

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