Michael S. Helsley
Concentrating in Employment Litigation, Civil Litigation and Labor Law
Education
- Juris Doctor,
1997 Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts
Academic Scholarship - Bachelor of Arts, 1994
University of California Santa Barbara
Honors Program
Experience
Michael S. Helsley is a shareholder at Wanger Jones Helsley PC, and is head of its Employment Litigation practice. Mr. Helsley is admitted to practice law in the State of California, United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and all United States District Courts of California.
In his civil practice, Mr. Helsley focuses on complex litigation matters in federal or state court, including employment litigation and commercial cases. Mr. Helsley represents national, regional and local employers in wage and hour class actions, race, gender, national origin and disability discrimination cases, sexual harassment cases, breach of contract, wrongful termination and other employment matters. Mr. Helsley also represents employers in labor matters.
Mr. Helsley’s practice includes advising employers on various wage and hour and employment-related issues, including internal and external employee investigations. Mr. Helsley also represents plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation, including antitrust and unfair competition matters. Mr. Helsley has also represented Tribal governments and prevailed in handling employment matters and litigation regarding sovereign immunity.
Mr. Helsley has successful jury trial and appellate experience in federal and state courts.
Professional Associations
Mr. Helsley is a member of the Fresno County, State of California, and Federal Bar Associations.
Other Accomplishments
Mr. Helsley has been the lead speaker at various seminars and trainings regarding sexual harassment in the workplace, discrimination in the workplace, wage and hour law, FLSA, and employee investigations in the workplace. Recent accomplishments include obtaining a defense jury verdict for worldwide manufacturing company against more than twenty employees in discrimination lawsuit in federal court; obtaining jury verdict and the prevailing party in retaliation and harassment lawsuit against national non-profit organization; obtained seven-figure settlement for client in construction contract dispute regarding installing rebar on non-prevailing wage work versus prevailing wage work.