Candace M. Gomez

Candace M. Gomez is an accomplished employment defense litigator and trusted advisor to employers with more than 23 years of experience devoted exclusively to management-side labor and employment law. A shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Orange County office, Candace defends California employers in high-stakes employment litigation and advises companies navigating complex, sensitive, and often highly confidential workplace issues.

Candace focuses her litigation practice on single-plaintiff employment matters, such as, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblowing, wrongful termination, disability and failure to accommodate, fraud, defamation, slander, breach of contract, and wage-and-hour claims. She has substantial experience defending sensitive and high-exposure matters, including sexual harassment, race, pregnancy, and sex discrimination, whistleblower and retaliation claims, and disputes involving senior-level employees and executives. She also handles matters that have attracted public and media attention, where litigation strategy must account for reputational and business considerations as well as legal risk.

Candace handles litigation and arbitration from pre-litigation strategy and early case assessment through dispositive motions, trial, and appeal. She has successfully obtained defense verdicts, summary judgment, and orders compelling employment disputes to arbitration. A persuasive and precise legal writer, Candace is known for distilling complicated factual and legal issues into clear, compelling arguments, a skill recognized by mediators and other experienced practitioners. Her recent successes include obtaining summary judgment for an employer in an arbitration involving claims of sex discrimination, retaliation based on the employee’s status as a victim of a crime, and wrongful termination.

Candace also oversees teams of attorneys defending employers in complex wage-and-hour litigation, including California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) representative actions and class actions. She works closely with clients and litigation teams to assess exposure, develop strategy, manage risk, and identify opportunities for efficient and favorable resolution.

A skilled negotiator, Candace has successfully resolved difficult employment disputes involving significant potential exposure and substantial settlement demands. Her approach combines strong advocacy with creativity, practical judgment, and an understanding of the dynamics that drive employment disputes. Her ability to develop productive relationships with opposing counsel often creates opportunities for favorable resolution even in highly contentious matters.

In addition to her litigation practice, Candace maintains a sophisticated advice and counseling practice. She works directly with general counsel, C-suite executives, senior human resources professionals, and other business leaders on sensitive and complex employment decisions. She has particular depth in leaves of absence and disability accommodation, regularly advising employers on the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), California Family Rights Act (CFRA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the interactive process, and reasonable accommodations. Her counseling practice also encompasses employee discipline and termination, reductions in force, workplace investigations, whistleblower and retaliation concerns, wage-and-hour compliance, employment agreements, policies and handbooks, and other workplace matters.

Candace represents employers across a broad range of industries, including banking and financial services, real estate development and homebuilding, technology and semiconductors, healthcare, construction, education, staffing, manufacturing, retail, restaurants and hospitality, and industrial and equipment-related businesses. Her clients range from closely held and family-owned businesses to some of the region’s largest employers and national and international companies.

A hallmark of Candace’s practice is the strength and longevity of her client relationships. She has represented many clients for well over a decade, with some relationships spanning nearly her entire career. Clients have continued to entrust their employment matters to Candace as she has progressed throughout her career. As relationship attorney for significant national and international clients, she coordinates employment-law services and develops long-term partnerships with general counsel, legal departments, human resources leaders, and executive teams.

Clients value Candace’s responsiveness, creativity, practical judgment, and ability to think beyond conventional solutions. She takes the time to understand each client’s business, operations, culture, and objectives and provides strategic guidance that accounts for legal risk, business realities, and the client’s broader goals.

An experienced and engaging public speaker, Candace regularly presents at Ogletree Deakins programs and conferences to employers, executives, human resources professionals, and legal and business audiences on California employment law. She frequently speaks on leaves of absence, disability accommodation, discrimination and harassment prevention, and emerging developments affecting California employers, translating complicated legal requirements into practical guidance employers can use in the workplace.

As a supervising shareholder, Candace takes an active role in mentoring, developing, and supporting attorneys at Ogletree Deakins. She is deeply invested in the professional development of the lawyers she supervises and views mentorship as an important part of her leadership within the firm. Candace is also a member of the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association and the Orange County Women Lawyers Association and values the role that diversity, mentorship, and opportunity play in strengthening the legal profession.

Candace’s approach to practicing law reflects values instilled early in life. Growing up in a family-owned business, she began helping at her father’s gas station at a young age, an experience that instilled a strong work ethic and an early appreciation for the demands of running a business. At the same time, her intensive classical piano training and aspirations of becoming a concert pianist developed the focus, discipline, precision, and attention to detail that she continues to bring to her advocacy and client service today.

Outside of her practice, Candace enjoys playing pickleball and tennis, learning to play golf, traveling, and spending time with family and friends. She readily admits, however, that cooking is not among her talents.

Throughout her career, Candace has represented employers exclusively. Her combination of extensive litigation experience, sophisticated advice and counseling, and longstanding client relationships gives her a valuable perspective: she understands how employment decisions are scrutinized when disputes arise and uses that experience to help clients make thoughtful, defensible business decisions before litigation develops.