Shelley G. Bryant

Practice areas

Employment Litigation: Plaintiff, Employment & Labor: Employee

Focus areas

Employment Discrimination, Employment Law – Employee, Retaliation, Sexual Harassment, Whistleblower, Wrongful Termination

Mr. Bryant’s area of expertise lies in litigating against major corporations for cases related to sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination. He is also known for his representation of numerous employees in class action lawsuits, aiming to secure compensation and penalties for instances of unpaid overtime and missed breaks.

In recent years, he has successfully secured multimillion-dollar settlements for his clients in matters concerning employment law. The majority of his legal actions involve prominent enterprises such as Bank of America, Met Life, Cingular, AT&T, Longs Drugs, Safeway, Starbucks, Save Mart, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, Aetna, Denny’s, Sky West Airlines, Time Warner Telecom, Pacific Gas & Electric, Microsoft, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Ahern Rentals, Little Caesar’s Pizza, Harris Ranch, the U.S. Army, the California Department of Corrections, the Fresno Unified School District, SK Foods, PDM Steel, JM Equipment, Berchtold Equipment, Tulare District Healthcare System, Zumwalt Construction, and the Fresno Police Department. These corporations typically secure legal representation from prominent law firms based in Los Angeles or San Francisco. However, Mr. Bryant possesses the expertise to assist individuals in asserting their labor rights.

Mr. Bryant heavily relies on technology both within his legal practice and during courtroom proceedings. In modern cases, an abundance of documents, facts, and multiple witnesses are common, and he employs computerized databases to manage and prepare information for cross-examining company executives, managers, and supervisors. He is also adept at utilizing computers and presentation tools to effectively present cases to judges and juries, a vital skill in today’s legal landscape.

Across nearly all his cases, Mr. Bryant emphasizes the production of electronic evidence such as emails, word documents, spreadsheets, and databases that may be stored on the defendants’ computer systems and networks. He is dedicated to staying current with the latest court regulations, procedures, and technological advancements to ensure his clients have access to crucial evidence that can lead to a fair resolution of their employment-related disputes.

Geographically, Mr. Bryant’s legal practice spans from Bakersfield to Sacramento to Oakland. He has litigated cases in federal and state courts across the Central Valley and has even presented arguments in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and participated in state-level appeals.

Mr. Bryant earned his bachelor’s degree from Chapman University and pursued his law degree at the University of California Davis. He gained experience as an extern at the California Supreme Court before joining the Jory, Peterson, Watkins & Smith law firm, where he represented employers in the Central Valley. During his tenure as a shareholder attorney at that firm, Mr. Bryant not only provided counsel on employment practices and policies but also managed general business litigation and defended against employment-related lawsuits. Subsequently, he transitioned to the Smith & Bryant, Inc. law firm before eventually establishing his own legal practice in 2011.