Joseph Breen is an experienced commercial litigation, employment, and privacy law attorney. He has successfully represented businesses ranging from Fortune 100 companies to start-ups in commercial litigation matters as well as in employment claims ranging from single plaintiff to complex class action wage/hour matters, discrimination, and PAGA lawsuits.  

Joseph’s litigation experience is broad and covers a wide variety of actions including shareholder disputes, trade secret matters, contract, fraud, defamation and unfair business practices claims, violations of wage and hour laws, wrongful discharge and retaliation claims involving alleged disability, race, age and sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and social media and privacy issues.  

He provides proactive and effective counsel to employers regarding risk management and containment through all stages of the employment cycle including hiring, discipline, compliance and termination.  He drafts and updates employee handbooks, personnel policies and procedures, confidentiality and proprietary information agreements, social media and privacy policies, executive employment contracts and severance agreements, and compensation agreements including bonus and commission plans in compliance with state and federal laws.  He has conducted and supervised complex internal investigations for his clients.

Joseph's litigation experience also includes representation of parties in all aspects of construction law disputes including suppliers/fabricators, subcontractors, general contractors, and owner/developers. Representative projects handled include manufacturing facilities, baseball stadiums (Candlestick Park) museums, large condominium developments, casinos, and the San Francisco International Airport.

Joseph enjoys providing clients with updates on significant developments in employment law and presenting seminars on evolving legal issues to human resource and other professional organizations.

Admissions

• California
• U.S. District Court, Northern and Central Districts of California
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Memberships

• California State Bar
• American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law
• American Bar Association Litigation Section
• Employers Counsel Network
• Employment Practices Risk Management

Community Involvement

Co-president, UC Berkeley Haas Alumni Network/North Bay Chapter
Former president, Cal Business Alumni/San Francisco Chapter
Former chair, NCHRA Legal Committee/San Francisco Chapter
Past president, Northern California Irish American Bar Association