Payne & Fears LLP

What Payne & Fears LLP does

Payne & Fears LLP is a privately held limited liability partnership founded in 1992 and headquartered in Irvine, California, operating as a full-service law firm with primary practice areas in labor and employment law, business litigation, and insurance coverage. The firm maintains six offices across five U.S. states — California (Los Angeles, Irvine, San Francisco), Nevada (Las Vegas), Utah (Salt Lake City), and Arizona (Phoenix) — and serves a client base that spans Fortune 100 enterprises, large healthcare systems such as Palmdale Regional Hospital and Long Beach Memorial, retail chains, financial services firms, and emerging-growth companies in regulated industries.

The firm's core offering is legal advisory, counseling, and litigation representation delivered by practicing partners and associates. There is no disclosed proprietary technology, software product, AI/ML system, or productized legal-tech platform — the business is built on partner-led client relationships and billable-hour engagement rather than technology or data assets. Recent strategic activity has centered on lateral attorney additions (including Corbin Smith and Brandon Mcclenning in 2026) into the employment litigation practice, and external recognition has been renewed annually through Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers (2024–2026), the BTI Top Midsize designation, and the State Bar of California DEI Leadership Seal.

The business model is the standard professional-services LLP structure: revenue is generated primarily through hourly billing by partners and associates across the three core practice areas, with client acquisition driven by partner relationships, referral networks, and reputational signals from peer-reviewed directories. Geographic expansion has progressed through sequential office openings from 2003 (Los Angeles) through 2015 (Phoenix), with no additional office launches recorded in the input data since the Phoenix entry.

Name

Payne & Fears LLP

Legal name

Payne & Fears LLP

Website

https://paynefears.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Payne & Fears LLP is a privately held full-service law firm founded in 1992 with six offices across California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. It provides labor and employment, business litigation, and insurance coverage counsel to Fortune 100 and emerging-growth clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Services

NAICS

Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Personal Injury & Insurance Defense (BPAHAAAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Directors & Officers (D&O) Liability (FSAJADAF), Professional Liability (E&O) (FSAJAGAC), Management Liability (D&O/EPL/Fiduciary) (FSAJAGAD)

Keywords

• Labor and employment law
• Business litigation services
• Insurance coverage counsel
• Workplace defense counsel
• Commercial dispute resolution

Headquarters

HQ city

Irvine

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Employment Litigation: The firm represents employers in employment litigation including discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, wage-and-hour class actions, and labor law matters. Revenue is generated through hourly billing for legal services.
2. Legal Services - Business Litigation: Handles business litigation matters including trade secrets, intellectual property, breach of contract, and consumer class actions. Revenue generated through hourly billing.
3. Legal Services - Insurance Coverage: Provides insurance coverage and litigation services. Revenue through hourly billing for legal services.
4. Legal Services - Employment Counseling: Provides employment advice, counseling, and training services to employers including policy development, management training, and compliance counseling.
5. Legal Services - Business Transactions: Handles business transactions including outside general counsel, mergers and acquisitions, business formation, and contracts and agreements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Payne & Fears LLP is a California-based law firm that provides legal counsel and litigation services to employers, insurers, and businesses. Its work is organized around three practice groups: Labor & Employment Law, Business Litigation, and Insurance Coverage & Litigation, advising clients on workplace compliance, commercial disputes, and insurance coverage matters.

Product overview

Payne & Fears LLP is a regional law firm offering legal services across three primary practice areas: Labor & Employment Law, Business Litigation, and Insurance Coverage & Litigation. The firm operates as a full-service legal practice rather than a technology product company. The Labor & Employment Law practice encompasses litigation defense, class action defense, discrimination and harassment claims, wage-and-hour litigation, labor law, investigations, retaliation defense, and employment counseling. The Business Litigation practice covers employee mobility and trade secrets, intellectual property litigation, appellate law, business transactions, contract disputes, consumer class actions, healthcare litigation, and construction matters. The Insurance Coverage & Litigation practice handles insurance policy procurement, claims processing, negotiations, and litigation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Labor & Employment Law Legal counsel and litigation defense for employers on workplace matters including compliance, personnel disputes, and employment-related litigation. Targeted at corporate and institutional employers.
• Business Litigation Representation of businesses in commercial disputes, including pre-litigation strategy, courtroom defense, and resolution of contract, partnership, and other business conflicts. Targeted at corporate clients.
• Insurance Coverage & Litigation Counsel and litigation services on insurance coverage matters, including policy interpretation, coverage disputes, and representation of insurers and policyholders. Targeted at insurers and corporate insureds.

Quantifiable outcome

• Complete summary judgment for Fortune 10 company in sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination case
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Fisher Phillips LLP: Fisher Phillips is a national labor and employment law firm with over 500 attorneys focused exclusively on representing employers. Its service lines — employment litigation, wage-and-hour class actions, workplace safety, and immigration — directly mirror Payne & Fears' core offerings. It is a frequent direct competitor in California and Southwest regional matters.
• Seyfarth Shaw LLP: Seyfarth Shaw is a large full-service AmLaw firm with one of the largest dedicated labor and employment departments nationally. Its employment litigation, wage-and-hour, and trade secret practices directly compete with Payne & Fears for enterprise clients, particularly in class action defense and California-based employment matters.
• Littler Mendelson PC: Littler Mendelson is the largest labor and employment law firm in the world, with over 1,800 attorneys across dozens of U.S. and global offices. It is the dominant specialty employer-defense competitor to Payne & Fears, serving many of the same Fortune 500 clients with a much broader geographic footprint and deeper bench. Direct overlap on employment litigation, wage-and-hour class actions, and PAGA defense.
• Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC: Ogletree Deakins is one of the largest labor and employment law firms in the U.S., with offices nationwide and deep specialty practices in employment litigation, wage-and-hour, and immigration. It is a direct competitor to Payne & Fears on the employer-defense side and a regular opposing counsel in California employment matters. Its scale and California presence make it a particularly close peer.
• Jackson Lewis P.C. Jackson Lewis is a leading national labor and employment law firm with approximately 1,000 attorneys across more than 60 U.S. locations. Its practices in employment litigation, wage-and-hour class actions, discrimination defense, and workplace investigations directly mirror Payne & Fears' Labor & Employment practice. Strong direct competitor for Fortune 500 and mid-market employer clients.
• Epstein Becker & Green P.C. Epstein Becker & Green is a national law firm with a strong labor and employment practice and a notable healthcare-industry specialty — an area where Payne & Fears also represents healthcare clients (e.g., Palmdale Regional Hospital, Long Beach Memorial). Direct overlap on employment defense, healthcare litigation, and wage-and-hour work.

Regional players

• Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP: Procopio is a California-based full-service law firm with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other California cities, focused on serving technology, life sciences, and middle-market clients. It competes with Payne & Fears for Southern California business and employment matters, particularly in technology and emerging company segments.
• Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP: Haight Brown & Bonesteel is a California-based full-service law firm with a recognized insurance coverage and litigation practice — directly overlapping Payne & Fears' Insurance Coverage & Litigation group on policy procurement, claims handling, and coverage disputes. Comparable regional scale and Southern California focus.
• Snell & Wilmer L.L.C. Snell & Wilmer is a full-service regional law firm headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, with strong offices across the Western U.S. including Salt Lake City and Las Vegas — directly mirroring Payne & Fears' Mountain West geographic strategy. Both firms compete for mid-market and enterprise clients in employment, business litigation, and insurance coverage across the same territory.

Direct peers

• Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete LLP: Constangy is a national labor and employment boutique with comparable firm profile and practice mix to Payne & Fears: employment litigation defense, wage-and-hour class actions, and workplace investigations for employer clients. Its comparable size and specialty focus make it one of the closest like-for-like peers in the employment-defense boutique category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Payne & Fears LLP