Douglas "Doug" Clifford is a Partner in the firm’s Class Action and Employment Law Practice groups. Doug has spent approximately twenty years practicing employment law in a variety of legal roles: litigator, in-house counsel, adjunct professor, mediator and a business owner.

At Wilson Turner Kosmo, Doug represents employers for all their employment law needs. He advises clients on the full spectrum of employment law issues, including wage and hour issues, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. He also litigates on behalf of employers for the same issues, including representing employers in court, Labor Commissioner hearings, EEOC charges, CRD charges, Cal-OSHA issues, and OSHA issues. Doug also conducts workplace investigations.

Prior to joining Wilson Turner Kosmo, Doug worked as Employment Counsel for a multi-national staffing company. As in-house counsel, he was responsible for ensuring legal compliance/management of an organization with employees in virtually every state, with particular emphasis on California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Arizona. Doug advised and litigated legal issues in a wide range of employment-related legal matters on a daily basis, including employee relations, discipline, wage and hour compliance (including analysis of 1099/W2 and exemption issues), workplace investigations, joint employment issues, terminations, harassment/discrimination and accommodation issues.

Doug’s experience as in-house for a staffing company also required an understanding and adaption to many different industries and organizations, as issues involved workers placed at clients in a variety of industries, including technology, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, construction, education, and entertainment. He was also responsible for handling litigation and government agency matters (including the DFEH, EEOC, and DLSE [i.e. Labor Commissioner]) and managing outside counsel on legal matters to ensure effective and efficient representation of nationwide litigation. Doug also had to work in the delicate relationships that often exist when allegations of joint employment are at issue.

Before working in-house, Doug founded and managed his own employment law firm. In this capacity, he conducted workplace investigations for public and private organizations of various sizes. Doug also spent his time handling advice and counseling on employment law topics for employers, including preparation of a sexual harassment online training tool used by a CLE provider throughout California.

Prior to opening his own law firm, Doug spent more than a decade litigating for one of Southern California’s preeminent employment law firms, where he handled all aspects of litigation from inception to conclusion. Issued litigated included FEHA, CFRA, FMLA, ADEA, ADA, FLSA, wage/hour, defamation, and wrongful termination. He appeared before state and federal courts, and several different government agencies (e.g. DLSE, DFEH, EEOC, Cal-OSHA, California State Pharmaceutical Board). He also argued before the Fourth District Court of Appeal.

Doug has also worked as an Adjunct Professor for the University of Redlands, where he taught “Legal Aspects of Human Resources” to HR professionals and business managers.

During law school, Doug worked as a Mediator for the San Diego Mediation Center (now National Conflict Resolution Center) and was a Comments editor for the San Diego International Law Journal.

Doug was honored to be named a San Diego Super Lawyer® in 2017 and was named as part of the The Best Lawyers in America for Employment Law – Management by U.S. News & World Report in 2023 and 2024.

Affiliations

• Friends of La Posada, Board of Directors (2016-2017)
• Balboa Park Conservancy, Board of Directors (2010-2014)

Speaking & Publications

• “Solutions to the Top 10 Employment Pitfalls,” Federal Bar Association, May 2019.
• “Classification Conundrum: It’s Not as Easy as A, B, C after Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court,” San Diego County Bar Association, March 2019.
• “1099 vs. W2: How to Tell the Difference Between Employees and Independent Contractors,” Association of Corporate Counsel, September 2017.
• “Top 10 Most Common (or Worst) Employment Law Mistakes,” North County San Diego Bar Association, September 2016.
• “Personnel Law 101,” San Diego Employers Association, Various Dates 2009-2015.
• “Fundamental Legal Principles for Business,” San Diego Youth Entrepreneurship Program, 2012.

Honors and Recognition

• Included in The Best Lawyers in America for Employment Law - Management (2023-2024)
• Finalist, 2021 San Diego Business Journal Leaders in Law Award
• Named by San Diego Super Lawyer (2017)