Freelance Lawyer Spotlight: Mara Brandes

Meet Mara Brandes! Mara graduated at the top of her class at Loyola Law School, and began her legal career as a law clerk before joining Ogletree Deakins to focus on labor and employment law.  After having her first of three children, Mara joined Montage and continues to offer advice and counsel and litigate both individual employment actions and wage and hour class actions.

My career with Montage has enabled me to do what I never thought was possible when I left my big law firm — continue my career in employment law and be home every day with my three young children. 

Mara Brandes, freelancing since 2012

Below is more information about Mara.   If you would like to work with Mara, please email us at [email protected].

Mara Brandes

Mara Brandes received a Bachelor of Arts degree in law and society from the University of California at Santa Barbara.  She graduated cum laude and Order of the Coif from Loyola Law School in 2008, where she ranked in the top 10% of her class and was a member of the St. Thomas More Law Honor Society.  While in law school, Mara also received the Dean’s Service Award for her work mentoring other students and teaching supplemental courses for first year law students.

Mara earned several First Honors Awards for receiving the highest grade in five courses, including Contracts, Copyright Law, Ethical Lawyering, Family Law, and Labor Law.  Mara also published an article in the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Student Journal, “Is There a Right to Die?” (October 2007).

After law school, Mara clerked for the Honorable Carolyn Kuhl in the Complex Division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Mara then joined Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. in Los Angeles, where she specialized in labor and employment litigation.  At Ogletree Deakins, Mara represented and counseled employers in all aspects of employment law, including matters in both state and federal court involving discrimination, harassment, wage-and-hour issues, and unfair business practices.  Mara drafted and argued motions, conducted investigations and witness interviews, performed a wide variety of legal research, took and defended depositions, and prepared for several trials.

After having her first child in 2012, Mara joined Montage Legal Group as a freelance attorney.  Mara is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central, Southern and Eastern Districts of California.