About Attorney Joel Bander

Attorney Joel Bander practices in wage and hour, legal malpractice, criminal defense and personal injury. With over twenty-five years of litigation experience, Mr. Bander is a leading litigator and accomplished trial strategist. He has successfully handled numerous cases before Federal, State, Civil, and Criminal Judges and has participated in hundreds of arbitrations and trials.

Additionally, Mr. Bander is also directed numerous class action lawsuits in the area of wage and hour litigation, which is a rapidly expanding practice area of the firm. He is also a Los Angeles Superior Court Arbitrator. A significant portion of Mr. Bander's practice involves the criminal cases of immigrants in both criminal and immigration courts. Mr. Bander's extensive knowledge in both criminal law and immigration law allows him to foresee all possible obstacles and consequences that his clients may face. He has tried cases before juries on both criminal and civil matters. He has handled cases as diverse as First Amendment Establishment Clause matters in federal court, employment discrimination, civil forfeiture, libel, post-conviction relief, products liability, and trademark litigation. Mr. Bander graduated from American University in Washington D.C. in 1977 with Bachelor Degrees in both political science and economics. While at American University, he was president of the A.U. College Democrats during the 1976 election campaign.

Upon graduation, Mr. Bander worked for the AFL-CIO as a political consultant to defeat an anti-labor ballot referendum in Missouri. He worked as an analyst in the United Mine Workers of America's Legislative Department (1978-1981), where he lobbied for energy and environmental legislation and coordinated political events throughout the coal producing regions of the U.S. Mr. Bander received his law degree from Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon (1985) where he won his school's National Wagner Labor Law Moot Court Competition and represented the law school in the national competition in New York City. After passing the California Bar examination on his first attempt and briefly working for another law firm he started his own practice in 1987.

Initially, he practiced exclusively in the area of personal injury. In the mid-1990s, he expanded the practice to include immigration law as so many clients were seeking his assistance in this area. Then, because of tougher immigration laws passed in 1996, he became involved in defending immigrants accused of crimes and facing deportation. Then, at the beginning of this decade, he expanded the practice again to include wage and hour litigation.

The firm now handles a wide array of wage and hour cases, including numerous class actions. Mr. Bander is actively involved in several local law organizations such as the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Los Angeles Bar Association. He also has been a board member of his neighborhood association and recently has created a separate litigation support company that is utilized by other wage and hour litigators. He has been married for over 23 years and has a 14 year old son who is a high ranking honor student.