Leonard Carder

What Leonard Carder does

Leonard Carder LLP is a private labor and employment law firm headquartered in Oakland, California, founded in the 1930s during the Great Depression by Richard Gladstein and Aubrey Grossman. The firm operates as a Limited Liability Partnership with approximately 18-20 attorneys, including partners, associates, and of counsel, and is organized around three core practice areas: Labor Law (representation of labor unions in organizing, collective bargaining, internal governance, and litigation across longshore, maritime, hospitality, transportation, construction, utility, and public sectors), Employment Rights Litigation (class action and individual representation of workers in wage-and-hour, overtime, meal/rest period, expense reimbursement, and independent contractor misclassification matters), and Employee Benefit Plans Advisory (counsel to pension and welfare benefit plans covering approximately 75,000 union members on compliance, fiduciary, transactional, and litigation matters).

The firm's revenue is generated through professional fees for legal services, combining ongoing union counsel (effectively retainer-based relationships) with contingency-fee class action litigation. Notable recoveries include the $226.5 million Alexander v. FedEx Ground settlement (2016), $16.5 million XPO Logistics (2020), $10.9 million Wells Fargo (2020), and $17.95 million Sysco, positioning the firm as a leading plaintiff-side player in California independent contractor misclassification law.

Go-to-market is referral-driven through AFL-CIO networks, the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, the labor law bar, and the firm's own case-driven reputation. The firm does not offer a technology product, has no AI/ML capability, and does not disclose pricing publicly. Its client base spans labor unions (ILWU, AFSCME, UNITE HERE Local 2, UTLA), Taft-Hartley benefit plans, and workers in class actions; corporate names such as FedEx, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Amazon, Juul, Sysco, UPS, and XPO appear as litigation defendants rather than paying clients. In October 2023 the firm closed its San Francisco office and consolidated to Oakland.

Name

Leonard Carder

Legal name

Leonard Carder LLP

Website

https://leonardcarder.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1930

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Leonard Carder LLP is a private Oakland-based labor and employment law firm serving labor unions, employee benefit plans, and workers in collective bargaining, class action employment litigation, and ERISA matters across California and the West Coast.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Professional Fees: Law firm revenue generated through legal representation fees for labor unions, employee benefit plans, and individual workers. Services include litigation, arbitration, collective bargaining, administrative proceedings, and legal counsel.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Leonard Carder LLP is a labor-side law firm that provides legal representation to labor unions in organizing, collective bargaining, internal governance, and litigation; represents workers in class actions and individual cases involving wage-and-hour violations, independent contractor misclassification, overtime, and expense reimbursement; and advises Taft-Hartley pension and welfare benefit plans on ERISA compliance, fiduciary matters, and trust fund litigation. The firm operates from a single Oakland, California office with approximately 18-20 attorneys.

Product overview

Leonard Carder LLP is a law firm offering three primary legal service areas: Labor Law Services (representing unions in organizing, negotiations, and litigation), Employment Rights Litigation (representing workers in class actions and individual cases), and Employee Benefit Plans Advisory (counseling pension and welfare funds). The firm does not offer a software product or technology platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Labor Law Services Legal counsel and representation to labor unions in organizing, negotiations, internal governance, and litigation across industries including longshore, maritime, hospitality, transportation, construction, utility, technical, professional, and public sectors.
• Employment Rights Litigation Representation of workers in class actions and individual cases involving wage and hour violations, independent contractor misclassification, overtime pay, meal and rest periods, expense reimbursement, commissions, and minimum wage claims.
• Employee Benefit Plans Advisory Legal counsel to pension and health/welfare benefit plans covering compliance, transactional matters, plan drafting, fiduciary liability, benefit claims, audits, withdrawal liability, plan mergers and terminations, and trust fund litigation.

Quantifiable outcome

• $226.5 million settlement for FedEx Ground drivers in Alexander v. FedEx Ground
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Outten & Golden LLP: New York-based plaintiff-side employment law firm representing individual workers and classes in wage-and-hour, discrimination, and misclassification cases. Closely comparable to Leonard Carder's Employment Rights practice.
• Berger Montague PC: Philadelphia-based complex litigation firm with substantial employment, wage-and-hour, and ERISA class-action practices. Comparable on plaintiff-side employment and benefit-plan class work.
• Beeson, Tayer & Bodine APC: Oakland-based union-side labor and employment law firm with deep Northern California union and benefit-plan practice. Operates in the same Bay Area labor market as Leonard Carder with overlapping client types.
• Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP: Plaintiffs' firm active in employment and ERISA class actions, securities litigation, and fiduciary matters. Overlaps with Leonard Carder on worker-side class actions and benefit-plan litigation.
• Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC: Plaintiffs' class-action firm with a prominent Employment Practices and Consumer Protection practice handling wage-and-hour, misclassification, and ERISA class actions. Directly comparable to Leonard Carder's plaintiff-side employment work.
• Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP: National plaintiffs' class-action firm with an established Employment Practices group representing workers in wage-and-hour and misclassification matters, including California cases. Highly comparable on class-action employment work.
• Bredhoff & Kaiser PLLC: Washington, D.C.-based law firm specializing exclusively in union-side labor law, ERISA, and multiemployer benefit plans. Highly comparable to Leonard Carder's labor-law and employee-benefit-plans practices and is the closest union-side boutique peer on the East Coast.
• Schwartz, Steinsapir, Liebman & Mandel LLP: Los Angeles-based union-side labor and employment boutique representing AFSCME, SEIU, and other public/private sector unions. Direct peer to Leonard Carder on union-side labor representation on the West Coast.
• Sperling & Slater PC / Sperling Slater: Los Angeles-based union-side labor and employment law firm representing public- and private-sector unions, Taft-Hartley plans, and individual workers in wage-and-hour matters. Directly comparable to Leonard Carder's three-practice structure.

Regional players

• Make the Road New York / Make the Road Communities: Worker-side advocacy and legal-services organization that combines direct legal representation of low-wage workers in wage-and-hour and misclassification cases with community organizing. Comparable in mission and worker-side case mix, though structured as a nonprofit legal-services provider rather than a partnership.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 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 Leonard Carder