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Horvitz & Levy is a solutions-based firm focused on appellate success. We are distinguished by our commitment to responsive service and on-going innovation in the areas of civil appellate litigation, amicus curiae support, and trial strategy consultation.

Our firm history, honors and awards, and locations speak to our collaborative approach and commitment to serving clients as well as the outstanding legal resources we bring to bear.

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Felix Shafir

Felix Shafir

Partner - Los Angeles Office


818.995.0800
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How Felix Helps Clients

Felix’s work often focuses on two areas at the cutting edge of California law: (1) the law of protected speech, including the First Amendment, defamation, California’s anti-SLAPP statute, and the litigation privilege; and (2) the defense of class and representative actions, often through resisting class certification efforts or the enforcement of arbitration agreements. He also has unique expertise in handling appeals involving employment disputes and employer liability, commercial litigation, intellectual property, environmental litigation, unfair competition lawsuits, and federal and state securities issues.

Felix has argued appeals in the California Supreme Court, the California Courts of Appeal, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and has been amicus counsel in numerous proceedings in those courts and in the Supreme Court of the United States. Additionally, trial counsel and in-house legal departments often leverage Felix's input before an appeal begins. He provides critical advice on preserving issues and presenting evidence in the best posture for appeal. He prepares amicus briefs seeking to move or clarify the law in ways favorable to his clients and their members.

Felix is a partner at the firm. He has represented many significant companies and organizations, including Agilent Technologies, American Medical Response, Anschutz Entertainment Group, the California Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, East West Bank, Ecolab, Levy Premium Foodservice Limited Partnership, Lyft, Macy’s, the Neiman Marcus Group, Omega S.A., See’s Candy Shops, Shell Oil Company, the Southern California Gas Company, Taco Bell, the Washington Legal Foundation, Wells Fargo & Co., and Zumiez.

Felix previously practiced at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP and Littler Mendelson, P.C., where he focused on all aspects of labor and employment defense and counseling.

Representative Matters

Turrieta v. Lyft, Inc. (2024)
California Supreme Court holds that plaintiffs cannot intervene in overlapping PAGA cases to challenge settlements based on their status as the State’s deputized private attorneys general.

Seifu v. Lyft Inc. (2022)
United States Supreme Court granted Lyft’s cert petition concerning Federal Arbitration Act preemption.

A&S Metal Recycling, Inc. v. Wilson’s Metal Exchange, Inc. (2020)
California Court of Appeal affirmed denial of anti-SLAPP motion in defamation case arising out of commercial dispute between business competitors.

Miner v. Ecolab, Inc. (2019) 
Ninth Circuit reversed order denying our client’s motion to compel arbitration, holding that the district court was wrong to conclude the arbitration agreement’s class action waiver rendered the agreement unenforceable.

Wilson v. Cable News Network, Inc. (2019) 
Filed amicus brief in support of media network urging the California Supreme Court to conclude that the anti-SLAPP statute can apply to employment claims; the California Supreme Court agreed the anti-SLAPP statute is not categorically inapplicable to employment claims.

Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (2018)
Filed amicus brief in support of employers urging the U.S. Supreme Court to determine class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements were enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act and federal labor law; the U.S. Supreme Court agreed such waivers must be enforced.

Dickinson v. Cosby (2018) 
California Superior Court granted the anti-SLAPP motion of our client, an entertainment lawyer, to strike the claims against him, concluding that the attorney’s demand letter and press statements were activities protected by the anti-SLAPP statute and that the claims must be stricken because the plaintiff could not show the attorney made the statements with constitutional malice.

Cotter v. Lyft, Inc. (2017) 
Ninth Circuit summarily affirmed order approving a class action settlement.

Angel v. Winograd (2016)
California Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s order denying our client’s anti-SLAPP motion and directed the court to strike the lawsuit seeking to hold our client liable for initiating a petition campaign to persuade a city council to pass legislation.

DIRECTV, Inc. v. Imburgia (2015)
Filed amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to conclude that the Federal Arbitration Act preempted state law disfavoring class arbitration waivers in consumer arbitration agreements; the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that the waiver must be enforced.

Sanchez v. Valencia Holding Co. (2015) 
Filed amicus brief urging the California Supreme Court to conclude that an arbitration clause commonly used in many car sales contracts should be enforced because it was not unconscionable; the California Supreme Court agreed the clause was not unconscionable.

Salinas v. Bennett (2008) 
California Court of Appeal affirmed order granting summary judgment in favor of our clients, concluding that our clients—owners of a property where the plaintiff was injured when his automobile veered off the road following a car accident and struck a gas meter—owed no duty of care to the driver because the owners neither owned nor controlled the meter, which was located on a portion of their property over which the county had a right of way.

Education

  • Northwestern University School of Law
    J.D., cum laude, 1999
  • University of California, Los Angeles
    B.A., cum laude, 1996

Clerkships

  • Hon. Thomas J. Meskill, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit (2003-2004)
  • Hon. Whitman Knapp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (2001-2003)

Bar Admissions

  • California
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Professional Associations

Awards

  • Daily Journal’s California Top Labor and Employment Lawyer (2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2013)
  • Super Lawyers (2017-2024)
  • Super Lawyers "Rising Star" (2007-2014)

Publications