Jo B. Gbujama

Jo B. Gbujama focuses his practice on advising and representing employers in all aspects of labor and employment law. He regularly manages single plaintiff litigation matters involving workplace discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, harassment, and other complex legal issues. Jo also has experience with PAGA and class action litigation involving California wage and hour laws and revising employee handbooks and policies. He has a passion for assisting employers in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Jo’s recent representative matters include:

• Represented major technology company against claims of disability discrimination and retaliation in arbitration; played a key role in defensive discovery efforts, including preparing responses, document productions, meet and confers, and managing multiple fact witnesses
• Represented technology company in responding to retaliation complaints in arbitration; played key role in preparing multiple depositions for several fact witnesses, leading to favorable settlement
• Represented company in high-profile mediation involving hostile work environment claims
• Successfully obtained renewal of workplace violence restraining order for a medical clinic
• Advised restaurant industry client on compliance with CROWN Acts
• Negotiated favorable settlements through mediation and other informal methods on behalf of clients facing significant exposure

Jo serves as pro bono liaison for the San Francisco office, coordinating pro bono opportunities for his colleagues. He maintains an active pro bono practice working with a variety of nonprofits, including the following matters:

• Revised employment handbook for legal clinic providing immigration services for LGBTQIA+ immigrants
• Drafted employment agreements and provided and advise on wage and hour compliance for nonprofit providing legal services to special needs students and families
• Assisted NAACP with defending the voters’ rights by serving as poll and social media monitor, virtually assisting voters through hotlines, and rapid response advocacy efforts

Jo serves on Littler San Francisco‘s Awareness Advocacy and Action for Equity (SAFE) Committee, responsible for creating, implementing, and reviewing office-wide diversity and inclusion strategies, including enhancing the firm’s recruitment and retention of diverse attorneys and promoting pro bono initiatives.

While in law school, Jo served as a judicial extern for the Hon. Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel for the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, a judicial extern for the EEOC, a student attorney for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, a summer associate at a national law firm, and a summer associate at Littler. Additionally, Jo served as an executive articles editor of the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, a competitor in the Wiley Rutledge Moot Court Competition, president of Phi Alpha Delta, and an executive board member of the Black Law Students Association. Jo was a commencement speaker, and had his student note published in the Washington University Law Review Online.

Jo has played basketball through bar association basketball leagues and demonstrated his capacity to handle business in any court.