San Diego Employment Lawyer
A San Diego Employment Lawyer for California Workers
ShortLegal, APC is an employee-side employment litigation boutique based in downtown San Diego, near Petco Park. We represent workers — never the companies they work for — across San Diego County and throughout California.
When a job goes wrong, the stakes are personal: a paycheck that doesn’t add up, a termination that feels like retaliation, a severance agreement with a deadline you didn’t ask for. ShortLegal brings the kind of serious, trial-ready judgment those situations deserve, led directly by an attorney with more than 20 years of complex and class litigation experience.
Downtown San Diego · Statewide Reach
A serious employment firm, rooted in San Diego
ShortLegal practices from offices in downtown San Diego, a short walk from the federal and state courthouses and Petco Park. The firm was built around a single idea: that an individual employee deserves the same caliber of advocacy that large companies routinely hire for themselves.
That work has helped recover more than $50 million for employees, including substantial wage-and-hour, class action, and PAGA settlements against California and national employers. Clients work directly with attorney Brian R. Short — not handed off to a rotating cast — from the first conversation through trial, if it comes to that.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
How We Help
What a San Diego employment lawyer can do for you
Employment problems rarely arrive one at a time. A single termination can involve unpaid wages, a retaliation claim, a discrimination issue, and a severance agreement all at once. ShortLegal evaluates the whole picture and pursues the claims the facts and the law actually support.
Wage & Hour Litigation
Unpaid wages, overtime, meal and rest breaks, wage statements, final pay, reimbursement, and misclassification.
Learn MoreClass Actions & PAGA
Representative claims when an employer’s policy or payroll practice affects a group of California workers.
Learn MoreWrongful Termination
Terminations that cross the line into retaliation, discrimination, or punishment for asserting workplace rights.
Learn MoreRetaliation
Punishment after complaining about wages, reporting misconduct, requesting accommodation, or taking protected leave.
Learn MoreDiscrimination & Harassment
Discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment, failure-to-prevent, and accommodation claims.
Learn MoreSeverance Agreement Review
A flat-fee review and negotiation before you sign away legal rights or accept post-employment obligations.
Learn MoreNot sure which of these fits your situation? That is exactly what a free, confidential consultation is for.
Serving San Diego Employees
Local to San Diego, built for California employment law
San Diego’s workforce is its own thing — biotech and life sciences along the Torrey Pines corridor, defense and shipbuilding on the bay, hospitality and tourism from the Gaslamp to Mission Valley, health care systems across the county, plus the warehouses, retail, and service employers that keep the region running. Wage-and-hour problems, misclassification, and unpaid overtime turn up in every one of those industries.
Being based in San Diego means ShortLegal knows the courts where these cases are heard — the San Diego Superior Court downtown and in the branch divisions, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. It also means we understand the local employers and the patterns that recur here. California employment law applies the same across the state, but how a case is actually handled benefits from a lawyer who knows the local landscape.
ShortLegal represents employees throughout San Diego County — from downtown and the coastal communities to North County, East County, and the South Bay — and across California, including Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire, the Bay Area, and the Central Valley. Many matters, including severance reviews, are handled by phone or video, so where you live in the state is rarely an obstacle.
Office
350 10th Ave., Suite 1000
San Diego, CA 92101
Office hours: Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m.; closed weekends. Consultations are by appointment — call ahead or use the case-evaluation form to schedule.
Talk to a San Diego employment lawyer
The initial case review is free, confidential, and comes with no obligation. The simplest way to find out where you stand is to ask.
Offered a severance agreement, or wondering whether you’ve been paid fairly?
How a Free Consultation Works