Our Team

Laura Ho

Laura L. Ho

Laura L. Ho is an award-winning litigator who has over 30 years of experience recovering hundreds of millions of dollars for workers throughout California and the country in industries like high tech, retail, home improvement, healthcare, banking, construction, the “gig” economy, and many others.  She has represented tens of millions of consumers in successful class actions returning money and ensuring big companies deal with their customers more fairly.   Laura has also been instrumental in enforcing the California Voting Rights Act in cities including Anaheim, Palmdale, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale.

Laura won California Lawyer magazine’s California Lawyer of the Year Award (CLAY) in 2025 and 2009, was named Best Lawyer’s 2014 and 2019 Lawyer of the Year for Oakland in Litigation—Labor and Employment, and is regularly recognized as a Best Lawyer, one of LawDragon’s 500 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment Lawyers, and a Northern California Super Lawyer.  The ACLU of Southern California and the Asian Law Alliance have awarded her for her work advancing voting rights.

Laura has been a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Law since 2018 and joined its board in 2022.  From 2019-22, she was the Employee Co-Chair of the ABA’s Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee.  She regularly writes and speaks on wage and hour and complex litigation topics.

Education

  • J.D., Yale University
  • B.A. (cum laude), University of Washington

Bar and Court Admissions

  • California, 1994

  • U.S. District Courts: Northern and Central Districts of California

  • U.S. Court of Appeals: Ninth and Tenth Circuits

Awards

  • 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Civil Rights and Employment Lawyers

  • 2014 and 2024 Best Lawyer’s Lawyer of the Year for Oakland in Litigation—Labor and Employment

  • 2009 and 2025 California Lawyer of the Year (“CLAY”) Award Winner

  • 2010-2026 Super Lawyer

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • College of Labor and Employment Law, Board of Governors Member
  • ABA Section of Labor and Employment, Diversity in the Legal Profession Committee, Past Plaintiff’s Co-Chair
  • ABA Section of Labor and Employment, Fair Labor Standards Legislation Committee, Past Midwinter Report Co-Editor in Chief
  • Asian Law Caucus, Past Board Member and Leadership Council Member
  • National Employment Lawyers Association, Past Executive Board Member
  • The Bar Association of San Francisco Labor and Employment Law Section, Past Board Member

Prior Employment

  • Asian Law Caucus; Staff Attorney
  • ACLU Foundation National Immigrants’ Rights Project; Staff Attorney
  • Law clerk for the Honorable John C. Coughenour, Chief Judge of the Federal District Court of the Western District of Washington in Seattle, Washington

Representative Cases

  • Vancleave v. Abbott, (Superior Court, Santa Clara County) (class counsel in certified consumer class action challenging label statements on Pediasure)

  • Veitch v. Stanford Health Care, (Superior Court, Santa Clara County) (final approval of $10 million wage and hour class action settlement in 2025)

  • Abrishamcar v. Oracle America, Inc., (Superior Court, San Mateo County) (final approval of $15.5 million wage and hour representative action settlement in 2025)

  • U.S. ex rel. Terry v. Wasatch Advantage Group LLC, (E.D. Cal.) (final approval of $16.5 million settlement on behalf of certified class of Section 8 tenants and U.S. Government for a False Claims Act claim in 2025)

  • Lawson v. Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc., (Superior Court, Orange County) (final approval of $1.1 million wage and hour settlement in 2024)

  • Reni v. Reach, (Superior Court, Alameda County) (final approval of $15 million wage and hour class settlement in 2023)

  • Dixon v. Cushman & Wakefield, (N.D. Cal.) (final approval of $4.9 million class and collective action wage and hour settlement in 2022)

  • Yumori-Kaku v. City of Santa Clara, (2020) 59 Cal.App.5th 385 (California Voting Rights Act case brought on behalf of Asian American voters, won at trial and appeal, and settled in 2021)

  • Flowers v. Twilio, (Superior Court, Alameda County) (final approval of $10 million settlement for certified class of consumers granted in 2019)

  • Siciliano v. Apple, (Superior Court, Santa Clara County) (final approval of $16 million settlement for certified class of consumers in California granted in 2018)

  • Willey v. TTI, RG16806307 (Superior Court, Alameda County) (final approval of $3.5 million settlement for 350 California class members approved in August 2017)

  • In re Uber FCRA, 14-CV-05200-EMC (N.D. Cal.) (final approval of nationwide FCRA class action settlement granted in 2018)

  • Talamantes v. PPG Indus., Inc., 13-cv-4062-WHO (N.D. Cal.) (final approval of $5 million settlement on behalf of 109 class and collective action members nationwide granted in December 2015)

  • Vasquez v. USM, Inc., C13-05449 WHA (N.D. Cal.) (final approval of California wage and hour class action settlement on behalf of janitors granted in 2015)

  • Willner v. Manpower (N.D. Cal.) ($8.75 million settlement for over 20,000 temporary employees throughout California alleging deficient wage statements)

  • Moreno v. City of Anaheim (Orange Cnty. Super. Ct) (California Voting Rights Act settlement changing city council election system from at large to by district)

  • Vasquez v. USM (N.D. Cal.) ($1 million class settlement for janitors alleging underfunding of janitorial contracts under Labor Code section 2810)

  • Garcia v. Oracle, JCCP 4597 (Alameda Cnty. Super. Ct.) ($35 million class settlement for 1,725 employees alleging overtime misclassification)

  • Myart v. Autozone, No. 05CC03219 (Orange Cnty. Super. Ct.) (class settlement in 2011 for over 20,000 hourly employees for off-the-clock work)

  • Contreras v. Bank of America, No. CGC-07-467749 (San Francisco Cnty. Super. Ct.) ($16.65 million settlement finally approved in 2010 for over 3,000 California mortgage loan officers)

  • Chau v. Starbucks, No. GIC 836925 (San Diego Cnty. Super. Ct.) (trial counsel winning $105 million judge verdict and injunction for certified class of over 120,000 baristas who alleged that Starbucks violates California law by allowing its “agents” to share in a tip pool with baristas)

  • Mousai v. E-Loan, Inc., No. 06-01993 SI (N.D. Cal.) (co-lead counsel in $13.6 million settlement in overtime class action for mortgage salespeople approved in May 2007)

  • Lin v. Siebel Systems, Inc., No. CIV 435601 (San Mateo Cnty. Super. Ct.) (final approval of $27.5 million class action settlement granted in May 2007 in overtime case for certified class of over 800 software engineers)

  • Butler v. Countrywide, No. BC 268250 (Los Angeles Cnty. Super. Ct.) ($30 million class settlement for over 450 misclassified account executives approved in 2005) Savings and Loan Overtime Case (co-lead counsel in $900,000 class action settlement for 111 underwriters for claims of unpaid overtime and annual bonus)

  • Chinese Progressive Association v. Anna Wong, et al., Case No. A11568 (California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District) (successful counsel for appellant in appeal of fee award against non-profit community organization for bringing UCL claims on behalf of garment workers who were denied any payment of wages for hours worked)

  • Tokar v. GEICO, No. GIC 810166 (San Diego Cnty. Super. Ct.) (class of over 3,000 telephone center workers seeking overtime pay; filed May 5, 2003; final approval of $3.3 million settlement granted on July 9, 2004)

  • Cruz, et al. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, et al., No. C01-00892 CRB (N.D. Cal.) (representing putative class of WWII era braceros for return of “savings fund” wages)

  • Gentry v. Superior Court (Circuit City Stores), No. S141502 (Cal. 2007) (counsel for amici curiae in overtime case involving class action waiver in arbitration agreement)

  • In Re: Sepulveda v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Litigation, No. 2:04-cv-01003-DSF-E (9th Cir.) (counsel for amici curiae in case involving class certification in wage and hour case)

  • Sav-on Drug Stores, Inc. v. Superior Court, 34 Cal.4th 319 (2004) (counsel for amici curiae in case involving class certification standards in California)

  • Morillion v. Royal Packing Co., 22 Cal.4th 575 (2000) (counsel for amici curiae in case involving definition of “hours worked” under California Labor Code)

  • Earley v. Superior Court, 79 Cal.App.4th 1420 (2000) (counsel for amici curiae in case involving California’s one-wage fee shifting statute for overtime wage claims)

  • Cuadra v Millan, 17 Cal. 4th 855 (1998) (writ proceeding successfully challenging DLSE’s practice of calculating back wages from date of hearing rather than date of filing of claim)

  • Bureerong v. Uvawas, 922 F. Supp. 1450 (C.D. Cal. 1996) (group action for wages and other damages for Thai sweatshop workers held in virtual “slave” sweatshop)

  • Sale v. HCC, 509 U.S. 155 (1993) (unsuccessful challenge to U.S. policy of interdicting on the high seas Haitians fleeing from Haiti and returning them to Haiti without determining whether those returned are refugees as defined under international law)

  • HCC v. Sale, 823 F. Supp. 1028 (E.D.N.Y. 1993) (successfully challenging U.S. policy of indefinite detention of Haitian refugees who tested positive for HIV)

Representative Publications

  • Contributing Editor, The Fair Labor Standards Act, 2001 Cumulative Supplement, Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.

  • Chapter Editor, Wage and Hour Laws, A State-by-State Survey, Main Volume and 2005 Supplement, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law

  • Collective Action Basics, 10 Emp. Rts. and Emp. Policy J. 427 (2006)

  • (Dis)assembling Rights of Women Workers on the Global Assemblyline: Human Rights and Garment Industry, 31 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 383 (1996) (with Cathy Powell and Leti Volpp)

  • Worker Protection Compromised:  The Fair Standards Act Meets the Bankruptcy Code, 2 Asian Pac. Am. L.J. 38 (1994) (with Lora Jo Foo and Thomas M. Kim)

  • Litigating as Law Students:  An Inside Look at Haitian Centers Council, 103 Yale L.J. 2337 (1994) (with Victoria Clawson and Elizabeth Detweiler)

Representative Speaking Engagements

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