The Jhaveri-Weeks Firm is a general litigation law practice. Since its founding in 2018, the firm has represented businesses and organizations in a range of litigation and counseling matters, and has represented employees, individually and in group actions, in a wide array of industries. The firm handles complex litigation on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants. Please see below for more about the services the firm offers.
For clients facing commercial litigation or seeking legal counseling to avoid business disputes, Mr. Jhaveri-Weeks offers the legal abilities and training of a top large-firm lawyer along with the efficiency and personal attention of a small practice. Since its founding in early 2018, The Jhaveri-Weeks Firm has represented businesses in the technology, healthcare, retail, consulting, and service industries. In addition, prior to founding the firm, Mr. Jhaveri-Weeks was part of legal teams handling the following representations:
- Hedge fund asserting commercial claims in international arbitration.
- Board of telecom company defending claims of fiduciary breach.
- Major Hollywood publication in copyright infringement action and in resisting discovery into confidential news sources.
- Foreign supplier of energy equipment in contract dispute with U.S. company.
- Hedge fund manager in dispute with bondholders of foreign oil and gas company.
- Major international bank defending antitrust claims involving auction-rate securities.
- Global insurance company defending securities class action.
- Agricultural technology company in USDA regulatory proceedings and related litigation.
- U.S.-based client resisting discovery sought in connection with foreign proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 1782.
The Jhaveri-Weeks Firm represents employees in class action and other group cases. Mr. Jhaveri-Weeks has served as class counsel in a range of employment and consumer cases. Within the context of employment law, common class claims include: failure to pay overtime wages, often due to misclassification of employees as independent contractors or as "exempt" from overtime requirements; failure to provide meal and rest breaks under California law; failure to pay employees for all hours worked ("off-the-clock" work); failure to reimburse business expenses under California law; and wrongful deductions from pay or underpayments of amounts owed to employees.
Current representations include:
Current representations include:
- Class counsel on behalf of adjunct professors asserting wage law protections at private California universities.
- Counsel for employees asserting representative claims under California's Private Attorneys General Act ("PAGA") based on alleged misclassification as independent contractors.
- Class counsel in multiple cases representing business development representatives and territory managers claiming unpaid overtime wages and meal and rest period premium pay.
- Class counsel on behalf of residential tenants charged late fees alleged to violate California law.
- Class counsel in multiple cases for residential real estate appraisers classified as exempt from overtime requirements; prepared briefs leading federal court to rule that appraisers had been misclassified as a matter of law.
- Represented proposed class of consumers who purchased laminated flooring sourced from China that emitted formaldehyde above California legal limits.
- Represented proposed classes and/or collective actions on behalf of assistant managers classified as exempt from overtime pay at multiple companies.
- Represented proposed class of employees challenging unlawful background check policies.
- Represented commissioned sales employees challenging employer's practices concerning commission pay.
The Jhaveri-Weeks Firm has successfully represented employees confronting a variety of workplace violations, litigating claims in state and federal court, and also assisting clients in resolving claims without filing suit. From 2018 to 2020, Mr. Jhaveri-Weeks has been named to LawDragon's "500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers" nationwide, and from 2016 to 2020 has been named a Rising Star in Northern California by Super Lawyers in the area of employment litigation. Mr. Jhaveri-Weeks also offers counseling and representation to employers. Areas of representation include:
- Discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other wrongful termination claims
- Founder disputes
- Employment agreement negotiations
- Wage law violations, handled on a class or individual basis
- Breach of employment contract or commission agreement
The Jhaveri-Weeks Firm offers representation in state and federal appeals. Over the course of his career, Mr. Jhaveri-Weeks has authored or co-authored appellate briefs in the Second, Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth Circuit federal courts of appeals, and has briefed and argued appeals in the California and New York state appellate courts. He served as a law clerk for a federal appeals judge.
Examples of appellate experience at prior firms include:
Examples of appellate experience at prior firms include:
- Authored numerous briefs in a series of related Ninth Circuit cases involving enforceability of arbitration agreements.
- Authored an amicus brief on behalf of National Employment Lawyers Association ("NELA") in Sixth Circuit appeal of trial verdict for plaintiffs in off-the-clock overtime case. Brief available here.
- Assisted in briefing California appeal resulting in reversal of termination of union employee and reinstatement with backpay.
- Assisted in obtaining affirmance of summary judgment in Second Circuit for clients accused of breach of fiduciary duty to insolvent corporation; defeated petition for certiorari to United States Supreme Court.
- Assisted in representing Mexican national in pro bono case reaching the U.S. Supreme Court; client had been deprived of right to consular assistance before being sentenced to death in Texas. Medellin v. Texas, 552 U.S. 491 (2008); 554 U.S. 759 (2008).