Madeleine’s POV: “What matters most is understanding clients, their goals, and their risk tolerance—only then can you come up with a comprehensive strategy that’s customized to each business.”
Madeleine Lee is experienced in all aspects of litigation, from the development of case strategy, through discovery, motion practice, and trial. She litigates a wide variety of employment matters, with emphasis on class action, representative (California Private Attorneys General Act/PAGA), and collective action defense. She handles and manages a wide variety of employment matters, including class based, single plaintiff, or administrative, and focuses on dispute resolution through litigation, arbitration, mediation, or negotiation.
Madeleine is experienced in class and PAGA litigation before state and federal courts throughout California. She handles a broad spectrum of wage and hour claims, including alleged violations of minimum wage, overtime, regular rate, meal period and rest break, business expenses, and wage statement statutes. She implements class/PAGA defense strategies in a variety of industry contexts (e.g. manufacturing, consumer products, transportation, logistics, communications, technology, agriculture, retail, infrastructure, hospitality, government contractors), including those involving unionized workforces. She partners with employers to develop pragmatic workplace strategies to manage employment-related risk as to high-stakes class litigation, including meal period and rest break compliance, regular rate calculations, and arbitration agreements in today’s unprecedented business environment.
Madeleine is also experienced in comprehensive employment litigation, training, and counseling of businesses involving employment discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, whistleblowing, leaves of absence, accommodation, reductions in force/terminations, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act/Cal-WARN, worker classification, trade secrets/non-competition/unfair competition. Madeleine investigates employer practices in preparation of workplace investigations, worker classification, and wage-hour audits. Madeleine prepares and reviews employment agreements and policies, including offer letters, handbooks, California handbook addenda, compensation plans, and separation agreements based on federal, state, and local laws.
Madeleine has an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of California, San Diego and a background in econometrics, economic development, and game theory. She served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; the Honorable Dean D. Pregerson, U.S. District Court of California; and the Honorable Erithe A. Smith, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California. She served as a volunteer deputy district attorney in the Trial Attorney Partnership Program of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office wherein she conducted two jury trials.
