Insights & News

Bartko Pavia Attorneys Recognized as Best Lawyers® Award Recipients

We’re proud to announce that four Bartko Pavia attorneys have been named in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected lawyer ranking service, using a peer-review process to ensure credibility and trust. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

Bartko Pavia Ranked by Best Law Firms® in 2024

Bartko LLP has been recognized in the 2024 edition of Best Law Firms®, ranked by Best Lawyers®, nationally in one practice area and regionally in eight practice areas.

Five Bartko Pavia Lawyers Recognized as 2024 Best Lawyers® Award Recipients

Bartko LLP is pleased to announce that five lawyers have been included in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

An Nguyen Ruda Named Dual Finalist for Law.com's 2026 Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards

Bartko Pavia LLP is proud to announce that CEO and Co-Managing Partner An Nguyen Ruda has been named a finalist in two categories for Law.com Corporate Counsel's prestigious 2026 Women, Influence & Power in Law (WIPL) Awards: Managing Partner of the Year and Mentor & Mentee Collaboration (with Luzann Fernandez, Strategic Counsel to Managing Partners).

Bartko Pavia Secures Major Victory In Kalamas v. John Muir Health

Luzann Fernandez, Patrick Ryan, Chad DeVeaux, Kerry Duffy, and Lisa Ferguson secured a major victory in Kalamas v. John Muir Health. The Bartko Pavia team filed an anti-SLAPP motion seeking to strike substantial portions of the plaintiff-doctor’s 800-plus-page Complaint against our clients John Muir Health and Calvin Knight, and two other defendants.  The Complaint seeks significant damages for employment retaliation, infliction of emotional distress, and breach of contract.  In support of these claims, the Complaint targeted statements made during medical peer-review proceedings and academic critiques of medical protocols and scientific theories proposed by the plaintiff.  Finding that these allegations targeted core speech and petition activities protected by the First Amendment, the California Constitution, and Civil Code § 47(b)’s litigation privilege, the Court granted Bartko’s motion, striking the plaintiff’s emotional distress and contract claims in their entirety, dramatically limiting the scope of her retaliation claims, and dismissing all the claims against the three remaining defendants.  Please see the attached November 9, 2022 Order here. This sets up a motion for attorneys’ fees against a wealthy individual. This victory comes on the heals of a win in the Peterson v. Sutter Med. Found., No. 3:21-cv-04908-WHO, 2022 WL 2869531 (N.D. Cal. July 20, 2022)—an important anti-SLAPP decision decided last July in a case handled by Michael Abraham, Steve Steinberg, and Chad DeVeaux, leveraging Chad’s and Patrick’s prior anti-SLAPP work in numerous other cases.  Patrick and Chad are leading practitioners in anti-SLAPP jurisprudence, having collectively prevailed in over 25 such motions across their career and working on some of the most important cases, including at the California Supreme Court level.  In fact, this recent victory marked a “hat trick” for Bartko, as this was the third anti-SLAPP victory of the year.

Employers’ Responsibilities under the New York State Paid Family Leave Benefits Law

On January 1, 2018, New York’s Paid Family Leave Benefits Law (“PFLBL”) became effective. The PFLBL provides eight weeks of total paid time off for employees who work for twenty or more hours per week (after twenty-six consecutive weeks of employment) and part-time employees who work less than twenty hours per week (after one hundred and seventy-five days of work, consecutive or otherwise). Below are a few key steps that New York employers should take to be compliant with the new law:

Client Alert: Increase in Salary Threshold for Administrative Exemption for Employees Working in New York City

Starting on January 1, 2025, the minimum salary for New York City employees to meet the salary  threshold for the administrative exemption is $1,237.50 per week or $64,350 per year.  

Labor and Employment Law Updates 2025

As with most legislative years, 2024 was a busy year for California employment law developments.  Several important new laws and regulations were enacted that will affect the operations of California employers of all sizes for years to come.  We have summarized in a client alert some of the more significant laws and regulations that may impact employers’ operations. The full client alert can be found here.

Multi-State Wage Transparency Laws Relating to Job Postings

Currently, Colorado is the only state that requires an employer who employs at least one employee in Colorado and posts an electronic job advertisement in Colorado (remote or otherwise) to also post a hyperlink on the advertisement that clearly provides (1) the hourly rate or salary, (2) general description of bonuses or other compensation, and (3) general description of benefits.