HISTORY
For over 40 years, Castle Publications, LLC has published legal books and presented seminars in the employment law field, including the subjects of wage-hour, employment, labor, discrimination, wrongful discharge, leaves of absence, and benefits laws. The books and seminars are extremely popular and considered essential by human resource officials, attorneys, consultants, and accounting personnel throughout the country. Castle Publications is the publisher of books and other publications by Attorney Richard J. Simmons and other attorneys of the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP.
RICHARD J. SIMMONS
Richard J. Simmons is a Partner in the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Los Angeles. Richard is a “lawyer’s lawyer.” He represents employers in wage-hour, PAGA, discrimination, wrongful discharge and breach of contract lawsuits. He has represented employers in over 200 class action lawsuits and landmark decisions, including celebrated victories for employers across the country. When the California Industrial Welfare Commission (the agency responsible for the California Wage Orders) was sued, it selected Richard to defend it rather than other firms that vied for the honor.
In addition to defending employers in hundreds of employment disputes throughout the country, Richard provides general advice regarding employment issues, including laws governing state and federal wage and hour, employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, employee discipline, termination, employee benefits, union matters and arbitrations. Richard received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar and graduated in the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. He received his J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Industrial Relations Law Journal, now the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law.
Richard is one of a few employer-side attorneys to win an employment case before the California Supreme Court in recent years. He was also recognized as the Labor and Employment Attorney of the Year by the Los Angeles Business Journal and was inducted into the Employment Lawyers Hall of Fame. Richard lectures nationally on wage and hour, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, and other employment and labor relations matters. He is a member of the National Advisory Board of the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, published by the School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He was also appointed by the California Industrial Welfare Commission as a member of three Minimum Wage Boards for the State of California.
Richard is a member of the California State Bar, the California Society for Health Care Attorneys, the American Society for Health Care Attorneys, and the labor law section of the American and Los Angeles Bar Associations. He has also been a lecturer at graduate labor law courses presented by the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, and has appeared as an authority on labor law on the CBS Evening News, NBC News, as well as radio and television talk shows.
Some of his recent honors include:
Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers, Lawdragon, 2020-2024
Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, 2020
National Law Journal's list of Employment Law Trailblazers, 2020
Labor and Employment Attorney of the Year, Los Angeles Business Journal, 2017
Employment Lawyers Hall of Fame Inductee, Lawdragon, 2017, 2022
The Nation's Most Powerful Employment Attorneys, Human Resource Executive, 2015-2017, 2019
Most Powerful Employment Lawyers, Lawdragon, 2016-2017
Leading lawyer in Labor and Employment, Chambers USA, 2006-2024
Recognition as Expert in Labor and Employment, The Legal 500, United States
California Hospital Association Certificate of Distinction, 2015
International Who’s Who of Management Labour & Employment Lawyers, 2012, 2015
Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyers, 2009-2025
Recognized, Labor & Employment and Labor & Employment Litigation, Legal 500, 2011-2014, 2016-2018
Labor and Employment Star - California, Benchmark Litigation, 2020-2024
"10 Leading Rainmakers," Daily Journal, 2009
Top Labor & Employment Attorney, Daily Journal, 2009-2014, 2016-2022
Employment MVP, Law360, 2011, 2019
Litigation Star, Benchmark Litigation, 2011-2012
Who’s Who Legal: California, 2008-2009
Southern California Super Lawyer, Super Lawyers, 2008-2024
Best of the Bar, Labor and Employment, Los Angeles Business Journal, 2007