Employment Counselling Associate

Distinct | North America; California; Remote; USD 310,000 - 390,000; Full time

Job summary

Distinct | North America in California seeks an Employment Counseling Associate to support tech clients and private equity buyers with California employment law. The role is fully remote within California and commands a salary range of $310,000 to $390,000, with a focus on practical, business-friendly legal guidance that scales across fast-growing teams.

Ideal candidates have 3–5 years of employment law at a top firm and must hold the California Bar.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of employment law experience at a reputable firm.
• Ability to advise on California contractor vs employee status.
• Experience with employment diligence for transactions and restructurings.

Responsibilities

• Advise on California employment law for tech clients and private equity buyers.
• Conduct employment diligence during acquisitions and restructurings.
• Explain equity, bonus, and commission considerations at exits and terminations.

Skills

Employment law

Contractor classification

Diligence

Education

California Bar

Job description

Employment Counseling Associate | Fully Remote, California | $310,000 to $390,000

Every tech company buys a ping pong table in its first year. By year two it's been shoved against a wall to make room for more desks, and by year three it's out in a corridor holding up a stack of branded hoodies in sizes nobody ordered, while the founder still describes it in interviews as the heart of the culture. Around the same time the company has gone from nine people to two hundred, a good chunk of them in California, and nobody has checked whether the sales team should have been getting overtime.

This job is the lawyer who checks. It's employment advice for tech companies and for the private equity buyers circling them, and none of it goes anywhere near a courtroom.

What clients ring about:

• Whether a contractor is an employee under California's test, usually a few hundred of them at once


• Employment diligence when a fund is buying, and the findings that end up moving the price


• Who keeps their equity, bonus or commission when they walk out the door


• Restructurings and reorganizations, and the exits that come with them


• California questions with no neat answer that still need one by Friday

You'd want three to five years of employment law at a good firm, and the California Bar. It's fully remote anywhere in California and pays $310,000 to $390,000.

Plenty of the clients are on their first ever employment lawyer. They're quick and they're curious and most of them are surprised California does things its own way, so you'll spend a fair bit of time explaining, which suits some people more than others.