MEET ALEX
Having spent his entire career as an employment lawyer, Alex has developed a keen understanding of workplace dynamics and issues affecting employer-employee relationships. For many years, Alex provided labor and employment law counseling and litigation services to clients on a variety of issues including employee hiring, discipline and discharge, employee investigations, performance management, disability accommodation, and wage-and-hour compliance.
Since 2013, Alex’s practice has focused on conducting impartial workplace investigations. He investigates a variety of allegations ranging from harassment, discrimination and retaliation to bullying, workplace violence, failure to accommodate, fraud, misuse of funds, breach of confidentiality and employee discipline. Alex has conducted over 100 investigations for both public and private employers in a variety of settings including state and local government, high-technology companies, healthcare, law enforcement and educational institutions.
Alex is an active member of the Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI). He frequently presents to AWI’s membership on investigation-related topics. For the past five years, AWI selected Alex to be a full-time faculty member at its week-long Training Institutes for Workplace Investigators, where he trained others in the specialized knowledge and skills required to successfully conduct impartial workplace investigations. Alex himself graduated from the Institute in 2014, and subsequently earned his AWI-CH designation.
Alex is recognized for his robust training and coaching practices. He has developed and delivered trainings to thousands of managers and non-supervisory employees throughout the state on a wide array of topics including conducting workplace investigations, sexual harassment prevention (AB 1825/SB 1343), diversity, equal employment opportunity, ethics, disability management and managing employee leaves of absence. Alex also frequently provides one-on-one employee coaching, where he works with individuals to maximize their successes in the workplace.
Alex began his legal career in the Bay Area as a litigator with Littler Mendelson PC. He then spent the next nine years practicing with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP’s nationally ranked employment group. Alex has also worked for Shaw Valenza LLP, a Sacramento-based boutique employment law firm, and for the U.C. Davis Health System, where he provided a full range of labor relations services to university management and staff. Alex was previously a Partner with Van Dermyden Maddux Law Corporation, an investigations law firm. He opened his own firm, the Law Office of Alexander Sperry, in October 2017.
In 2016, Alex was named as one of Sacramento’s top employment lawyers in Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List.
Alex has been selected for inclusion to the Northern California Super Lawyers list from 2020-2023.
CA State Bar No. 205563
- Juris Doctor, Santa Clara University School of Law (1999)
- Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Davis (1996)
- Northern California Super Lawyers List (2020-2023)
- Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List (2016)
- Member, Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI); AWI-CH designation
- Member, Sacramento Professional Advisors Network (SPAN)
- Trained in Trauma Informed Forensic Interviewing
- Member, State Bar of California, Labor & Employment Law Section
- “Fostering a Culture of Respect: Understanding and Preventing Workplace Harassment (and Other EEO Issues) (AB 1825/SB 1343)” – California company (July/August 2020)
- “Planning & Evidence” – Association of Workplace Investigators’ Workplace Investigation Basics Seminar (May 2020)
- “What Not To Do In A Workplace Investigation: A Case Study” – Sacramento Professional Advisors Network (January 2020)
- Association of Workplace Investigators’ Scottsdale Training Institute – Faculty (November 2019)
- “Fostering a Culture of Respect: Understanding and Preventing Workplace Harassment (and Other EEO Issues) (AB 1825/SB 1343)” – Sacramento local business (April 2019)
- Association of Workplace Investigators’ Santa Barbara Training Institute – Faculty (February 2019)
- “Employment Law & Liability” – UC Davis Health (2019-2020)
- “Employment Law & Liability” UC Davis (2019-2020)
- “Investigating Claims of Sexual Harassment in the #metoo Era” – Sacramento Professional Advisors Network (September 20, 2018)
- Association of Workplace Investigators’ Atlanta Training Institute – Faculty (April 2018)
- “Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Workplace Investigations” – NORCAL HR Directors’ Winter 2018 Conference (February 8, 2018)
- “Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (and more…)” – San Luis Obispo Employer Advisory Council-sponsored training (September 2017)
- “Achieving Excellence in Conducting Workplace Investigations” – Judicial Council of California (JCC), Sacramento, CA (May 12, 2017)
- Association of Workplace Investigators’ Baltimore Training Institute – Faculty (May 2017)
- “Cracking the Case with Credibility” – CALPELRA Annual Training Conference in Monterey (November 1-4 2016)
- “Addressing Bullying in the Workplace – Being Mean May not Necessarily Be Against the Law, But it Can Be Bad for Business.” – Sacramento Employer Advisory Council-sponsored training (October 2016)
- “Leaves of Absence and Disability Accommodations” – Crowne Plaza Hotel (September 2016)
- “Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (AB 1825)” – San Luis Obispo Employer Advisory Council-sponsored training (September 2016)
- “Understanding and Avoiding Bias in Investigations and in Our Profession” – Association of Workplace Investigators’ Training Institute – Santa Barbara, CA (February 2016)
- “Lawyers Conducting Workplace Investigations: Avoiding Ethical Perils and Pitfalls; and Ethical Issues for Private Investigators” – Association of Workplace Investigator’s five-day Training Institute – Santa Barbara, CA (February 22–26, 2016)
- “Evidence” – Association of Workplace Investigators’ Training Institute – Santa Barbara, CA (February 2016)
- “Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (AB 1825)” – San Luis Obispo Employer Advisory Council-sponsored training (September 2015)
- “An Insider Look at Conducting Investigations” – California Society of Certified Public Accountants (June 2015)
- “Ethical Issues for Attorneys Conducting Workplace Investigations in the Public Sector” – State Bar of California, The Labor & Employment Law Section’s 21st Annual Public Sector Program, co-presenter (April 2015)
- “Lawyers Conducting Workplace Investigations: Avoiding Ethical Perils and Pitfalls” – Association of Workplace Investigators 2015 National Training Institute (February 2015)
- “Understanding and Avoiding Bias in Investigations and in Our Profession” – Association of Workplace Investigators 2015 National Training Institute (with Amy Oppenheimer) (February 2015)
- “Recognizing Electronic Data Issues—In Investigations and in the Investigator’s Office” – Association of Workplace Investigators 2015 National Training Institute (with Jim Carden) (February 2015)
- “Preventing Harassment, Discrimination & Retaliation For Managers and Supervisors (AB 1825)” – private corporate training (January 2015)
- “Writing Excellent Reports” – Association of Workplace Investigators Bay Area Local Circle (December 2014)
- “Achieving Excellence in Conducting Workplace Investigations” – Sacramento Employer Advisory Council-sponsored training (September 2014)
- “Retaliation: Tips & Techniques for the Workplace Investigator” – Association of Workplace Investigators-sponsored webinar (August 2014)