Jessica J. Thomas is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Firm’s Los Angeles office. She focuses her practice on complex litigation, including employment, healthcare-related cases, breach of contract cases, and class action lawsuits.

Jessica has represented clients in Federal Court, California State Court, and administrative proceedings in a wide range of matters, including:

Acting as lead trial counsel in a breach contract matter, and successfully obtaining damages in Los Angeles Superior Court
Managing various employment-related matters, including developing case strategies for opposing class certification in a wage and hour action with $80 million of potential exposure
Counseling employers on a wide variety of issues, including employee contracts, non-compete clauses, restrictive covenants, trade secrets, compliance with California wage and hour statutes, employee discipline, investigations, and workplace harassment prevention
In a purported class action alleging various state law statutory violations, with a putative class of over 10,000, defeating the matter in its entirety prior to class certification
Successfully defending a large corporation in an ERISA matter brought in Federal Court, and obtaining attorneys’ fees for the client
Successfully representing various California hospitals in writ actions
Defending various corporations, including several California hospitals, in wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment claims
Representing corporations in class actions, including for labor code violations

Jessica is actively involved in pro bono matters, and has served as a member of the employment panel for Public Counsel.

Jessica was named as a Southern California Rising Star by Law and Politics Magazine in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013. In 2008, she successfully completed the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Trial Advocacy Program. While in law school, she had an externship with the U.S. Department of State.