Harvard Law, 15 years, 50+ trials. For Michigan employees.

I’m Warren Astbury. I’m a 2009 Harvard Law School graduate, I’ve tried more than 50 cases to verdict over the course of my career, and I represent Michigan employees — never employers — in wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, and non-compete disputes.

I fight for the people, not the powerful.

My approach

I take a compassionate and personal approach to my practice. I work directly with each client to understand their unique needs and circumstances, and I strive to treat every client as if they were a member of my own family.

Losing your job — or being pressured out of it — doesn’t just cost you a paycheck. It takes a physical, emotional, and financial toll on you and your family. I understand that, and I practice accordingly.

That also means I’m selective about the cases I take. Most Michigan employment lawyers take the calls and sort it out later. I do it the other way around: I screen hard at intake so that the clients I take on get my full attention — and so the cases I work are the ones most likely to win. I’d rather tell you “no, here’s why” in a 15-minute free consultation than string you along for months on a case that doesn’t have the evidence.

Education and experience

Harvard Law School, J.D., 2009

15 years of experience representing employees in employment disputes across the country.

50+ trials to verdict. This matters more than most people realize. Most employment lawyers settle everything, and employers’ insurers know which plaintiffs’ firms are willing to take cases to a jury. Firms that try cases command higher settlement values for the ones that don’t get that far.

Licensed to practice in Michigan, Illinois, and California.

Prior experience: Before opening Astbury Law, I worked at the country’s largest plaintiff’s law firm, handling discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and non-compete cases across multiple jurisdictions.

Why I only represent employees

I decided early in my career that I wouldn’t represent the other side. There are plenty of excellent management-side employment lawyers in Michigan who protect employers, and that’s their work to do. Mine is to protect the people on the other side of that table — the employee who was fired for taking FMLA leave, the woman terminated for reporting sexual harassment, the cancer patient let go for missing work during treatment, the engineer whose former employer is using a non-compete to keep her from working.

Employees deserve lawyers who do this work full-time, not part-time, not alongside defending companies. When you hire Astbury Law, you hire someone whose incentives are fully aligned with yours.

Representative results

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Each case is different. The following are representative fact patterns from cases I’ve handled over the course of my career.

Wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation

High-six-figure settlement in a single-plaintiff race discrimination, harassment, and retaliation case in Los Angeles, California, involving an employee who was threatened with a noose — a case covered by national media.
Mid-six-figure settlement in a single-plaintiff disability discrimination, harassment, and retaliation case against a hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, where an employee was terminated because she missed too many days while receiving cancer treatment.
Mid-six-figure settlement in a single-plaintiff sexual harassment and retaliation case in Detroit, Michigan, where the female employee was shown graphic pictures by a male coworker and was forced to resign by her employer after she complained to management.
Mid-six-figure settlement in a single-plaintiff race discrimination, harassment, and retaliation case in Lansing, Michigan, against one of the state’s largest employers, where the employer forced the employee to resign after he complained about race discrimination.

Non-compete, non-solicitation, and non-disparagement defense

Complete defense victory for a financial services employee sued by her former employer for allegedly violating non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure agreements. This case also recovered attorney’s fees for the client as the prevailing party.
Complete defense victory for an engineer sued by her former employer for allegedly violating non-competition and non-disclosure agreements.
Successful defense against an injunction at an injunction hearing in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the former employer sought to impose a non-solicitation agreement and force the former employee to resign from his current employment.
Won an injunction hearing in West Palm Beach, Florida, where an employer sought to enforce a non-disparagement agreement against a former employee who was posting disparaging comments about the company online.
Multiple cases where a former employer filed a lawsuit to enforce a non-compete or non-solicitation agreement only to abandon that effort after my notice of appearance was filed.

Contact

Astbury Law, PLLC 607 Shelby Street, 7th Floor, #1115 Detroit, MI 48226 814-821-1140 warren@astburylaw.com

Schedule a Free Case Evaluation →