THE MAKINGS OF A DISCRIMINATION LAWYER


Northridge, California, 1990.
Future discrimination lawyer, Karl Gerber,
shaking the hand of California State University Northridge president at his 1990 Political Science graduation. His future competitor, Gloria Allred can be seen in white below the dias. She was the guest speaker. Gerber's next mission was to shake her hand. He yanked Gloria Allred's hand firmly, looked into her eyes and thought, "Move over woman. I am coming to los angeles to fight discrimination."

Sherman Oaks, California May of 1990. Karl Gerber has been accepted to law school. One cake at his college graduation party has the scales of justice which was on his future law school's crest. The other cake represents the other branches of government. In his ultimate career as a discrimination lawyer, Gerber utilizes the Government Code and Labor Codes enacted by the California Legislature.
On his college graduation trip to Miami Beach, Gerber experiences injustice when his rental car is hit by a hit and run driver. He is insured and does not suffer any out-of-pocket damages, nor is he asked to pay an insurance deductible. Neither the police, nor the rental car company seem to care.
Sherman Oaks, California. Late 1995. The room in Gerber's apartment where he worked. Note, an early edition of Wrongful Employment Termination Practice's update on the desk. The book is now a two volume spiral binder.
Sherman Oaks, California, late 1995. Law Clerk desk in the dining room of Gerber's Sherman Oaks apartment on Kester.
15130 Ventura Boulevard Sherman Oaks, California July 15, 1994. Gerber rents two adjoining rooms in an office building where he will meet labor clients and take his first deposition (it was an aerospace whistleblower case). Although it cannot be seen, his name appears on the downstairs directory.
Ventura Boulevard view from front room window of Gerber's first office at 15130 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks California 91403.
Sherman Oaks, California, 1996. Gerber's client files at his apartment take up three file cabinets. He has outgrown his small Ventura Boulevard office where he meets new clients, takes depositions, but must perform case work with a law clerk out of his apartment due to a lack of office space.
November 1996, Gerber moves work operations out of his Sherman Oaks apartment and rents office space at the newly remodeled Hamburger Hamlet Building located at 4419 Van Nuys Boulevard in Sherman Oaks just south of World Modeling Agency. Little does he know, porno actresses frequently dine at Hamburger Hamlet.
March 1997, a transgender manager of a Mitsubishi dealership Gerber represents in a discrimination case before discrimination law covers transgender employment, gets Gerber a great deal on his first new car.
> Late 1997, probably the Hills of Chatsworth, Gerber's convertible sports the license plate, "EMPLAW." Today, any words used to denote employment law are no longer available. Gerber still has the convertible and California license plate EMPLAW.
March 1998, Sherman Oaks California, Karl Gerber buys his first house. Note the engraving on the door knocker. If you look carefully you will see a pie sign which means plaintiff, the employee, in legal cases.
Pasadena, California 2003. Gerber noticeably angry that his team on the MS Walk did not come in #1 on fund raising.
hurt on construction site lawyer Studio City, California approximately 2007. Gerber's photograph of a rebar formation for a wall he wishes to permit.
May 1993, Pasadena California. Strange man approaches Karl Gerber at his law school graduation, asks him to examine his workplace carpal tunnel injury. Future Dr. Georg Gerber, MS, MS, PhD, and MD, Harvard Medical School Faculty, appears to be involved in this hand ritual, or is it an agreed medical examination?
November 23, 1993, Sherman Oaks California, during the day Karl Gerber was sworn in as a California attorney at the Van Nuys Courthouse. By nightfall he is signing a Substitution of Attorney Form substituting himself in as the new attorney for his first client and substituting out the client's old attorney. By far, this is the most significant and valuable photograph in this collection.
December 13, 1993, courthouse steps in front of the Central District of California Federal Courthouse located at 312 North Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. Karl Gerber has just been sworn in as a Federal attorney licensed to practice in the Central District of California. The same strange man once again approaches Gerber. This time the man is on crutches and asks Gerber to represent him in an action against his employer under the new fangled Americans With Disabilities Act recently passed in 1990.
13418 Ventura Boulevard, spring of 1999, on February 23, 1999 Gerber acquired the present location of the Employment Lawyers Group. This is the final stage of reconstruction. A smooth stucco coat is going in front of the building.
unsafe working conditions lawyer The back of 13418 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, getting a smooth stucco coat.
Sherman Oaks, California 1999. The stucco at 13418 Ventura Boulevard is complete.
13418 Ventura Boulevard, March of 1999, looking up towards Gerber's office.
13418 Ventura Boulevard, summer of 1999, Gerber works in his office while the windows are being replaced
13418 Ventura Boulevard prior to move in day April of 1999, the second floor gets remodeled
13418 Ventura Boulevard, 2nd Floor, 1999 remodel. Some of the framing you see here was removed in 2008 when Danz & Gerber disbanded.
prevailing wage lawyer Sherman Oaks, California, March 1999, unsafe working conditions somewhere at Danz & Gerber
work injury lawyer for construction Sherman Oaks, California, time to concrete over the 4 inch sewer pipes underneath the floor of the downstairs associate office. Funny, back then Gerber thought moving a 94 pound bag of Portland Cement was a big deal.
Sherman Oaks, California late 1994. Karl Gerber's first conference room, and the site of his first deposition
Office 1952: Sherman Oaks, California 1952. The empty lot is where 13418 Ventura Boulevard, the present day site of the Employment Lawyers Group was built in 1972.
EEOC discrimination lawyer January 1 2000, Karl Gerber travels to Washington D.C. in hopes of seeing Bill Clinton. Little does Gerber know, 10 years later in 2010 he will apply for admission to the District of Columbia Bar.
Sherman Oaks, California, early 2005. Crooked tie Gerber is ready for a case.
Early 2010, Oxnard Marina. An entire foreclosed home appears in the middle of the main channel and Gerber believes he will crash his Jungle Cruise Electric Cruiser.
Mandalay Beach, Oxnard California 2009 or 2010. Early days of Employment Lawyers Group's Oxnard operation. Horses appear on the beach to serve Gerber with the employer's legal briefs.
Noir Studio City, California around Halloween 2002. Inside the now demolished residence of murder mystery writer Babcock where he used to hold retreats with other pulp writers such as Dashiell Hammett. Inside of Babcock's former second story writing room, Gerber feigns his death while a former supervisor/employer witness spills the beans thinking Gerber is dead.
Studio City, California early 2004. The ghost of Dwight V. Babcock can be seen looking out from his former writing room. His aura can be seen reflected on the 3 cubic yard dumpster to the right in the reflection of light. He knows the destruction of his residence is imminent due to Gerber's increasingly more ambitious and complex construction projects he undertakes himself.
May 2004, Studio City, California. Gerber onsite with oldest son.
Studio City, California, 2004 Gerber's difficult to frame and build hillside construction continues.
Studio City, California, August 2007. Gerber does construction cleanup for less than minimum wage.
Volvo C70 Studio City, California. Yet another license plate branding Employment Law. This time, "EMP ESQ."
Studio City, California 2007. Gerber demonstrates how to get a back injury by not bending his back when lifting.
Oxnard, California, summer of 2013. Lunch break during a deposition at the Oxnard office of Employment Lawyers Group.
Summer of 2013, 110 North Grand entrance to Los Angeles Superior Court, Stanley Mosk Courthouse, where Gerber had on file 2/3 of the employment cases in the courthouse around 2001.
Downtown Los Angeles, 2013. All of the office buildings where employment defense lawyers unsuccessfully plot to win cases against the Employment Lawyers Group.
Downtown Los Angeles, Disney Hall. Do you know how many times Gerber has navigated a luggage cart full of trial boxes past tourists taking pictures of this stupid building?
September of 2013. Meeting room at Employment Lawyers Group, Oxnard.
Studio City, California, around September of 2013. Gerber expresses skepticism as the Sherman Oaks staff of the Employment Lawyers Group is photographed.
Sherman Oaks, California at Employment Lawyers Group building in September of 2008. Son descends down the staircase with Gerber on his way to his first day of school at Dixie Canyon.
Sherman Oaks, California in front of Tony's Liquor on the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Dixie Canyon across from the Employment Lawyers Group, Sherman Oaks building. Gerber and son want entrance for candy before school on son's first day at Dixie Canyon Elementary. Son will make his first commercial purchase there around this time.
Studio City, California, smug looks by Associate Attorney, Eric Palmer, when it is suggested at some point in his career he could lose an employment case.
Studio City, California, Associate Attorney Ann Guleser identifies with the Asian woman on the hill behind her when thinking about the irrelevancy of the cases cited in the employer's appeal she must oppose.
Somis California fall of 2013. Gerber is asked to summarize the employer's argument in an employment discrimination case. He projects this picture for the judge.
Oxnard, California, November 2013. Gerber is about to take a deposition and destroy defense witnesses in a race discrimination case.
Oxnard California, Festival of lights 2013. From the Jungle Cruise's windows something odd is seen floating towards Employment Lawyers Group, Oxnard.
December of 2013, Gerber experienced confusion in Denver. He finds out this room has not been the Colorado Supreme Court in years, and the Senate who he plans to get up to speed on discrimination laws is nowhere to be found!
December of 2013, Gerber travels to Denver to see this slogan on a courthouse.
Studio City, California first night of Passover 2014. Something is definitely wrong with the moon. Maybe it is changing colors to show us color is an irrelevant perception of light.
Oxnard, California, April of 2014. A very different kind of client appears in the waterways at the Oxnard office seeking representation on no other than a contingency basis. The Employment Lawyers Group refuses to discriminate on the basis this client does not speak English and cannot come any closer to the office than the dock.
November of 2008. The floor of 13418 Ventura Boulevard, now Employment Lawyers Group, is stripped in preparation for new hardwood floors. A drawing of the unbuilt, grand employment law center for Danz & Gerber which Gerber won an architectural award for can be seen on the wall.
November of 2008, hardwood floors are installed in the downstairs hallway of the Employment Lawyers Group, Sherman Oaks.
2009, Sherman Oaks California. A former Danz & Gerber property must be remodeled because the partnership has disbanded and the recession has hit.
Sherman Oaks California. During construction, Gerber's oldest son discovers a safe at the former Tony Nancy's Bitchen' Stichin' Speed Shop. With the proceeds from the safe the Employment Lawyers Group is able to expand onto a nationwide basis. The found money is rumored to be the sum Steve McQueen's paid Tony Nancy for the stich job on his 1956 Jaguar XKSS (# ? of 12).
Sherman Oaks California. Tony Nancy peed in this very toilet and I would not be surprised if Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds, Clark Gable, John Wayne, and Gary Cooper.
Sometime in 2009, Sherman Oaks, California. Yep all that garbage once belonged to Tony Nancy, even his former locked pressed wood gun cabinet being used to house former soil bags filled with construction debris. Hey, maybe The Duke paid off Tony Nancy with a rifle that used to be in there
Placentia California, 2007. Gerber attended this elementary between 1974-1977. Other than his siblings there were not any other Jews attending this school back then. The lack of diversity in this early Orange County tract that used to be an orange grove was formative for Gerber's decision to be a discrimination lawyer.
Seabridge Marina, Oxnard California, 2009. Gerber's electric boat can be seen at the dock.
Chicago, 2009. A fitting name for an establishment.