Daniel Nash Profiled as a Law360 Employment MVP

Daniel Nash, a partner in Akin Gump’s labor and employment practice, was profiled by Law360 as one of the publication’s 2013 Employment MVPs.

Law360 spotlighted the work that Nash has done for Starbucks Corp. and Ernst & Young LLP in complex labor class actions.  In the former, two groups of former employees—baristas and assistant managers—separately sued the coffee chain over claims that tips were being distributed unfairly.  The baristas claimed that shift supervisors should not be allowed to share tips, while the assistant managers argued that they themselves were being denied a share of the tips.  Nash took the case, a matter of first impression, and argued the legislative intent behind New York’s tipping laws, which resulted in two wins that were affirmed by both the New York State Court of Appeals and the 2nd Circuit.

In the E&Y case, Nash took on two separate actions—one in California, the other in New York—that claimed the firm violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by classifying junior accountants as exempt from overtime.  Ernst & Young saw some reversals in the lower federal courts on the issue of the accounting firm’s ability to enforce its individual arbitration agreements with plaintiffs before the 2nd and 9th circuits both ruled to the contrary.

Nash shared the credit for his successes with the firm’s appellate lawyers, saying “One of the things we do is work closely with our appellate lawyers, especially in some of the more complex class cases like these, but also other cases where we think there are going to be important issues of law.” 

To read the full article, please click here.  To read more about the Starbucks victory, please click here.