Litigation
Jun. 15, 2002
She's the Boss
Top 30 Women Litigators - Nancy L. Abell - As a young woman in college, Nancy L. Abell found grappling with people's mental and emotional conflicts more appealing than handling their legal disputes.
Nancy L. Abell
As a young woman in college, Nancy L. Abell found grappling with people's mental and emotional conflicts more appealing than handling their legal disputes.
The 51-year-old, a partner at Los Angeles' Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, had planned to earn a doctorate in psychology.
But then fate stepped in.
To support her husband through law school, she worked for the city of Los Angeles, eventually supervising an affirmative-action program. Investigating discrimination complaints made the mysteries of the id and superego pale in comparison. She went on to graduate UCLA School of Law in 1979.
Employers around the country must be grateful for her career choice.
Abell represents bosses who are sued for everything from sexual harassment to wrongful termination.
In November 2001, she defeated a request for class certification in a case against her client, Microsoft Corp., accused of using an excessively subjective evaluation system that allowed the employer's supervisors to discriminate against women and African-American employees. The number of potential class members could have exceeded 10,000 people.
"When class certification was denied, that was essentially the case," Abell says.
Two years ago, she successfully argued before the California Supreme Court that an employer may rescind an employment policy guaranteeing workers a different job if their old one is eliminated. Asmus v. Pacific Bell, 23 Cal.4th 1 (2000).
Since 2000, Abell also has had the job of overseeing more than 150 attorneys as chair of her firm's employment law department.
Eron Yehuda
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