Elizabeth A. Dooley is an associate in the San Francisco office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She practices in the firm’s Litigation Department. Ms. Dooley has successfully represented clients in both state and federal trial and appellate courts. Her practice focuses on appellate and labor & employment matters.

Her appellate experience includes drafting briefs filed in the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the California Supreme Court, and the California Courts of Appeal, as well as arguing before the Ninth Circuit. At the trial court level, she has written numerous dispositive motions and represented clients across California. Ms. Dooley previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Michelle T. Friedland on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and as a law clerk to the Honorable Kim McLane Wardlaw on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Recent representative matters include:

• Arguing before the Ninth Circuit on behalf of a client challenging an agency decision and obtaining full relief for the client on remand from the Ninth Circuit.
• Securing victory in a published California Court of Appeal decision in favor of an employer in a long-running putative wage and hour class action on a novel question of law, and successfully opposing plaintiffs’ petition for review to the California Supreme Court.
• Winning a grant of summary judgment in California state court in favor of an employer against an employee bringing claims under California’s FEHA and successfully defending that decision on appeal to the California Court of Appeal.
• Representation of a public company in arbitration over a contract dispute that resulted in a victory for the client on the primary contested issue in arbitration, whether a late payment penalty was enforceable.
• Ongoing representation of a Fortune 500 company in a large employment putative class action.
• Representation of a large company in several putative class actions involving allegations by workers that they were improperly classified as independent contractors.
• Successfully opposing a petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.
• Successfully opposing plaintiffs’ attempt to remand a putative employee misclassification class action to state court.
• Appearing before the Salinas City Council to advocate for reforms to city ordinances concerning the rights of unsheltered individuals.

Ms. Dooley earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2013, where she was a member of the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and the Stanford Community Law Clinic. While in law school, Ms. Dooley also served as co-president of the law school’s LGBT organization. Ms. Dooley received her B.A., summa cum laude, from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 2007, where she was elected Phi Beta Kappa.

Prior to attending law school, Ms. Dooley taught high school English in South Los Angeles through Teach for America while earning her M.A. in secondary education from Loyola Marymount University.

Ms. Dooley is admitted to practice law in the State of California. She serves on the Board of the Aids Legal Referral Panel, and she previously served on the Board of Stanford Pride, Stanford University’s LGBT alumni organization.