Mishell Parreno Taylor

Mishell Parreno Taylor focuses her legal career on representing employers of all sizes, ranging from local to global corporations on a broad spectrum of employment law issues. She has extensive experience in handling employment litigation in federal and state courts and administrative agencies across the country, including California, Texas, South Carolina, Arkansas and Alabama. Her experience includes defending clients against individual and class-wide claims of discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and retaliation. Additionally, she aggressively handles both individual and class action wage and hour litigation in matters involving claims of missed meal and rest periods, unlawful deductions, misclassification and off-the-clock work. Not only has she successfully defeated claims at the dispositive motion or class certification stage of litigation, she has successfully litigated an all defense verdict in the Southern District of California involving claims of national origin and race discrimination and retaliation. She also co-chaired a two week arbitration in which she obtained a complete defense verdict on allegations of wrongful demotion and retaliation against several company executives.

Mishell distinguishes herself from many of her peers with her ability to effectively handle employment compliance and litigation in circumstances involving a multilingual and multicultural workforce. Having been born in Guayaquil, Ecuador and being a native Spanish-speaker, she is able to appreciate the cultural differences and nuances inherent when communicating with Spanish-speaking employees. This advantage has enabled Mishell to obtain key testimony and evidence allowing her to prevail in motion practice and at the trial stage of litigation in both individual party and class action matters. In collaboration with members of Littler Global, she serves as the U.S. liaison for multi-national corporations operating or seeking to grow their global footprint in Latin America to ensure compliance with labor laws in multiple jurisdictions across Latin America. Similarly having Texas roots helps her clients in Texas feel she is a trusted advisor regarding knowledge of California employment law and capable of managing any legal challenges they may encounter in California.

In addition to her strong litigation experience, Mishell has extensive experience in advising employers on all aspects of the employer-employee relationship. She assists employers in identifying and preventing problems before they arise through compliance analysis and development of workplace policies and procedures. She advises employers how to effectively handle:

• Workplace investigations
• Accommodation and interactive process compliance
• Wage and hour compliance
• Employee terminations

Mishell is an active member of several of the firm’s practice groups: Complex Litigation and Jury Trials, Leaves of Absence and Disability Accommodation, Wage and Hour, and International Employment Law. She is also a member of the firm’s Labor-Latin America and Spanish Services groups.

Mishell previously served as a commissioner on the Police Officer's Civil Service Commission for the City of Houston. While in law school, she assisted families in immigration matters and successfully argued a client's claim for political asylum. She was also an articles editor of the Houston Business and Tax Law Journal.