Julie Davis is a litigation associate in the Newport Beach office of Irell & Manella LLP.  Ms. Davis has extensive experience defending a variety of class action matters across various industries, including consumer, wage and hour and other employment related class actions.

Most recently, Ms. Davis was a member of the Irell team that successfully defeated class certification in an employment wage and hour class action involving six consolidated cases.  She has also handled the successful settlement of many California state and federal court class actions, and won an appeal before the Court of Appeals regarding the terms of a class action settlement.

Other representative class action matters include:

• Defended international restaurant chain wage and hour class action litigation in state and federal courts, including overtime, meal and rest breaks, PAGA, employee reimbursement, vacation, minimum wage and final pay
• Represented defendant in consumer class action regarding expiration of movie tickets and negotiated settlement
• Defended client in FLSA collective actions with pendent state law claims brought in over twenty different jurisdictions, achieving coordination of cases through multidistrict litigation
•  Negotiated settlements of employment-related class actions

Ms. Davis also has experience handling a variety of other types of commercial litigation in various state and federal courts.  Other representative matters include:

• Defended international client in litigation involving joint venture regarding manufacture of electronic products
• Represented officer in bankruptcy court and AAA arbitration in connection with allegations of fraud and breaches of fiduciary duties
•  Represented clients in defending and reaching settlements in individual and multi-party discrimination cases before federal and state agencies and in federal and state courts
• Conducted workplace investigation involving claims of race, gender, religious, pregnancy, and sexual orientation discrimination and bias
• Defended clients and provided counseling regarding non-compete agreements
• Represented clients facing potential grand jury indictments
• Litigated claims in multiple forums relating to breach of joint venture agreement in personal fitness industry
• Represented client in breach of contract involving fraud in connection with investment in automotive company
• Represented client in technology industry for breach of personal guaranty related to real property transaction
• Defended client against allegations relating to wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment
• Represented bio-tech company in connection with inventorship and breach of licensing claims

Ms. Davis has been named a Southern California "Rising Star" in litigation by Super Lawyers Magazine every year since 2007.  She is a frequent author and recently published an article titled "An Employer’s Guide to Expense Reimbursements & Wage Deductions," in the February 2011 issues of Nonprofit Matters.

Prior to working at Irell & Manella, Ms. Davis was an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where she litigated federal and state commercial matters, anti-trust cases, securities cases, patent cases and right to counsel matters.  Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Davis served as a law clerk for the Honorable Robert B. King of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Ms. Davis earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Law where she was Order of the Coif and Editor of the North Carolina Law Review.  Before attending law school, Ms. Davis worked as vice president for Advanced Research Management Consultants, Inc.  She earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Ms. Davis’ interests include cycling, running, tennis, knitting, furniture restoration, and cooking.

Bar & Court Admissions

• 2002, New York State Courts
• 2003, Southern District of New York
• 2004, California State Courts
• 2004, Central District of California
• 2008, Eastern District of California
• 2008, Western District of New York