Biography
Shadie Berenji focuses her legal practice on exclusively representing employees with workplace disputes. Ms. Berenji has a vast array of experience in employment law litigation, with a particular emphasis on wage and hour violations. Ms. Berenji has successfully represented employees in wage and hour class actions, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation and whistleblower lawsuits.
Ms. Berenji draws on her impeccable education and work training to provide her clients with highly competent legal representation. After graduating from high school at the early age of 15, Ms. Berenji received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2000. She then earned her law degree from the University of Southern California (USC) Gould School of Law in 2004. Ms. Berenji became licensed to practice in all courts in the State of California, as well as the federal courts in the Ninth Circuit, in 2004.
Ms. Berenji began her legal career by working with first-tier law firms and receiving training from some of the best lawyers in the country. Prior to establishing her law firm, Ms. Berenji worked at one of the largest employment law firms in the nation representing many of the country’s largest employers. During this time period, she received invaluable employment law training and learned how employers defend employment law cases and what strategies and tactics they use to defeat employees’ claims. She also learned what motivates employers to settle or fight cases and the monetary value assigned to claims. Ms. Berenji utilizes this experience to provide her clients with first-rate legal representation and anticipate attacks from the defense.
She has achieved numerous six and seven figure settlements for employees that suffered discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation and/or did not receive proper wages for hours worked or tasks completed. Several of Ms. Berenji’s settlements have been featured in news articles published by Bloomberg BNA, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, and Law360.
In 2020, Ms. Berenji and her firm protected her client’s constitutional right to a jury trial by obtaining a favorable ruling from the California Court of Appeal, Second District in the matter of Gerald Lange v. Monster Energy Company (2020) 46 Cal.App.5th 436.
Education
University of Southern California Law Center, Los Angeles, California
Juris Doctorate - 2004
University of California, Los Angeles, California
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and Sociology, - 2000
Bar Admissions
California, 2004
U.S. District Court Northern District of California, 2004
U.S. District Court Central District of California, 2004
U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 2004
Honors and Awards
Super Lawyers Top Attorneys in Southern California, 2018-2020
Super Lawyers Top Women Attorneys, 2018
Super Lawyers Top 100 Up-And-Coming Attorneys, 2017
Super Lawyers Top 50 Up-And-Coming Women Attorneys, 2017
Top 10 Settlements in Labor & Employment Law Cases in California, 2020
Top 50 Settlements in Labor & Employment law cases in California, 2020, 2017
Top 100 Settlements in All Practice Areas in California, 2017
Top 100 Attorneys by The National Advocates Top 100 Lawyers
Professional Associations and Memberships
California Employment Lawyers Association
Consumer Attorneys of Association of Los Angeles
Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles
Iranian American Bar Association, Present
Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Bar Association
The USC Law Alumni Association
California State Bar, Labor and Employment Law section