Mr Brett Burns > Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP > Los Angeles, United States > Lawyer Profile

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
550 SOUTH HOPE STREET, SUITE 2000
LOS ANGELES, CA 90071
CALIFORNIA
United States

Work Department

Labor & Employment

Position

Partner

Career

For more than thirty years, Michael Brett Burns has represented leading employers and management, particularly in the retail and professional services industries, in a wide range of employment, wage and hour, and public accommodations matters. Brett, a partner in the labor and employment practice at Hunton, focuses on complex litigation matters, and regularly defends clients in employment class actions, wage and hour class, collective, and PAGA representative actions, public accommodations class actions, and federal agency pattern or practice matters (including lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and state attorneys general).

He has led the defense of more than 200 class, collective, representative, and pattern or practice actions, tried complex class actions, collective actions, and pattern or practice cases to juries, and secured verdicts for clients in multiple single-plaintiff jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations, earning national recognition.

In addition to his litigation and arbitration practice, Brett counsels clients on litigation avoidance strategies and on creative solutions for complicated employment, wage and hour, and public accommodation law challenges.

Memberships

Admitted to the California and Texas State Bars

Education

  • JD, The University of Texas School of Law, Member and Associate Editor, Texas Law Review, 1991
  • BS, Texas A&M University, 1988

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)

The Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP team has significant experience handling employment litigation, representing clients before the courts and administrative agencies in matters involving the theft of trade secrets, breach of restrictive covenants, discrimination, harassment and wage and hour compliance. Emily Burkhardt Vicente and Kevin White both sit at the head of the practice. Vincente works from the Los Angeles office and has significant experience taking hybrid class and collective action causes to jury trial. White is situated Washington DC and brings specialist knowledge of the retail and consumer products industry to the group. Supporting White in Washington is Ryan Bates, who handles class actions, collective actions and bet-the-company litigation. M. Brett Burns is a key figure in the San Francisco office and focuses his practice on wage and hour class and collective actions. Michele Beilke departed in June 2024.