An employment litigation attorney whose dual role as a California business owner and entrepreneur allows her to understand her clients’ workplace challenges firsthand, Marie D. DiSante has been resolving and preventing disputes for employers for more than 20 years.  Her active leadership in the business community shapes her effective, practical and value-driven counsel to employers of all sizes, from startup ventures to Fortune 500 enterprises.

After founding the firm with her partners in 1994, DiSante positioned her clients in the forefront of emerging and unprecedented class action litigation in the state, especially in wage and hour compliance cases. Her facility with introducing a strategic business view within a legal context has resulted in numerous favorable outcomes in complex employment law litigation.  

In one representative example, DiSante dramatically reduced the threat of five concurrent putative class actions filed by five separate sets of plaintiffs' counsel in five separate counties. Her assertive representation of her client, a national telecommunications retailer with a significant California workforce, included defending claims covering a variety of overlapping alleged wage and hour violations involving meal and rest breaks, misclassification, off-the-clock work, failure to reimburse business expenses, miscalculation of the overtime pay rate, and minimum wage issues. 

DiSante’s experience also includes a broad range of single-plaintiff actions, EEO compliance, personnel policy implementation, performance management and reductions-in-force counsel. 

Throughout her client representations, DiSante leverages her conflict resolution skills, gained in state and federal courts and alternative dispute resolution venues, to offer real-life, pragmatic approaches that foster safe, productive workplaces and prevent employee claims.  At the center of her advice and counsel is a deeply held wish to add value to clients’ businesses, as well as create a rewarding workplace for employees.

Ongoing education is a key component in DiSante’s preemptive counsel to clients.  Her activities include overseeing the Orange County office’s monthly Human Resources Roundtable sessions. DiSante serves as a founding member of several Southern California business organizations, including the Collaboration of Professional Women (ProVisors), Orange County Law Firm Leadership Roundtable and Women Presidents’ Organization Orange County Chapter.

Education

Southern Methodist University School of Law, J.D., 1988
    Order of the Coif

Texas Christian University, B.S., summa cum laude, 1985

Presentations

“Hiring Again?  How to Avoid the 1099 Contractor Liability Trap,” American Institute of Architects, August 2011

“Hiring the Best - Setting Up for Success,” Women Presidents Organization, July 2011

“Social Media - From Fear and Loathing to Management and Strategy,” Human Resources Independent Consultants, August 2010

“Social Media - From Fear and Loathing to Management and Strategy,” National Human Resources Association (OC), April 2010

Professional Affiliations / Leadership / Awards

Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ Rated

Collaboration of Professional Women (ProVisors), Founding Group Leader, 2010-present

Orange County Law Firm Leadership Roundtable, Founding Member, 2007-present

Women Presidents’ Organization, OC Chapter, Founding Member, 2006-present

Vistage, Chief Executive Peer Advisory Group, Member, 2006-present

Orange County Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law Section, Member and Chairperson, 1993