Alyson Claire Decker is an experienced litigator, general counsel, space attorney, mediator, board member, consultant, public speaker, and an employment law guru.
Born and raised in So. Cal., Ms. Decker graduated from the University of Southern California Law School in 2007 and began her legal career at Orrick, the Am Law 100 firm. Prior to joining Taylor |Anderson, Ms. Decker worked at several nationally renowned boutique law firms, became the Vice President of Legal Affairs for a group of privately held companies with an annual revenue of over 100 million dollars, and founded her own law firm, Alyson Claire Law.
Ms. Decker has litigated in state and federal courts across the country, sat on both sides of the table as counsel for Plaintiffs and counsel for Defendants, conducted internal and third-party investigations, and handled cases ranging from employment, wage and hour, class actions, entertainment, antitrust, business, contract, real estate, complex, trademark, trade secret, high profile celebrity cases, and appellate. She is also a member of the Association of Workplace Investigators.
In addition, Ms. Decker utilizes her background as an experienced general counsel, executive, and board member to provide an elite level of non-litigation legal services, including contracts, compliance, employment, risk assessments, and corporate work.
Ms. Decker also conducts mediations and arbitrations through ARC and NAM, taking her years of experience as a litigator, and her formal mediation training from the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Center for Civic Mediation, to work with counsel and their clients to reach a joint resolution of their disputes. Ms. Decker tempers her no holds barred honest assessment of a party’s claims and defenses with a compassionate touch because, truth be told, every dispute becomes personal to the parties involved in it.
Practice Areas
Education
- University of Southern California Law Center (J.D. – 2007).
- Law Review: Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal
- Brandeis University (B.A. – 2004).
- Major: Art History and European Cultural Studies
- Honor: Magna cum laude
Bar Admissions
- California
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court Central District of California
- U.S. District Court Northern District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
Honors and Awards
- Selected for the Super Lawyers’ Southern California Rising Stars List from 2014 to 2020
- Commendation for Outstanding Legal Prowess, City of Lancaster, April 2013
Representative clients include: Beyond Pricing, DreamCare, Full Ritúal, an international RXM SaaS company, various aerospace and defense companies, a healthcare startup, a healthtech startup, a fertility treatment support app., a travel gamification experience app., public entities, high-end consulting firms, a medical scribe service, a bookkeeper, an interior designer, a subscription greeting card service, Dollhaus Beauty Co., a concierge camping service, an IT service provider, staffing companies, law firms, a drycleaner, a holiday lighting company, closely held family owned businesses, several entrepreneurs and executives, and numerous other startups and scaling businesses.
Noteworthy Defense Wins:
Alyson obtained numerous four-and-five-figure settlements of heavily contested individual employment law cases.
Alyson resolved several legacy wage and hour class action and PAGA cases in the low to mid 100k range.
Alyson negotiated a pre-motion for summary judgment settlement of $2,500 on behalf of two defendants in a breach of contract case with claimed damages of between six and seven figures.
Alyson successfully demurred to (granted without leave to amend) and opposed a motion to stay in a case involving two well-known toy companies and alleged fraudulent transfers.
Significant Plaintiff Victories:
Alyson has obtained numerous six and seven figure settlements in various employment law matters.
Alyson obtained a six-figure settlement after winning a motion for remand and successfully opposing a motion to dismiss in a retaliation and race discrimination case involving an international carryout chain restaurant.
Alyson successfully blocked the distribution of a sex tape and obtained stay away orders for a celebrity client.
Alyson prepared all the appellate briefing and obtained a $3.5 million settlement in a class action legal malpractice case after the matter was dismissed with prejudice in the District Court and briefing and oral argument had been completed before the Ninth Circuit.
• “Private Entities as Actors in Regional Space Governance Organizations”, ASCEND 2023, Las Vegas, Nevada, 23-25 October 2023 (Aerospace Research Central), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Oct. 2023.
• “Space and Gender Equality – A response to Take Up Space”, Jus Ad Astra Blog, April 2023.
• “Preserving Unspoiled Space for Future Generations”, 73rd International Astronautical Congress, Paris, France, 18-22 September 2022 (International Astronautical Federation), Sept. 2022.
• “Working in Space: The Final Frontier of Remote Work”, Northern Illinois University Law Review, Volume 42, Issue 3, p. 330-344, Summer 2022.
• “2022 Update of California Trial Practice: Civil Procedure During Trial”, (Chapter 1: Handling Trials Efficiently; Chapter 13: Trial Exhibits), CEB, April 2022.
• “Mediating Age Discrimination Disputes”, American Bar Association Just Resolutions Newsletter, March 2022.
• “The Waning Crescent of Jurisdiction on the Moon”, 5th Global Moon Village Association Workshop & Symposium, Dec. 6, 2021.
• “Overcoming Implicit Bias in the Workplace”, AboveBoard Blog, October 29, 2021.
• “Down to Earth – Labor Issues and Human Rights in Outer Space”, Jus Ad Astra Blog, July 22, 2021.
• “Recognizing and avoiding implicit bias: How to make an impact on the future of legal leadership.”, American Bar Association Student Lawyer Blog, June 9, 2021.
• “Strategic Considerations in Filing Motions for Summary Judgment and Summary Adjudication”, CEB, March 2020.
• “Looking at the Supreme Court’s Growing Partisan Divide Through Elite-Colored Glasses”, Book Review for the Los Angeles Review of Books, July 11, 2019.
• “Providing Group Justice – ROUNDTABLE: Class Action Lawsuits”, Valley Lawyer, p. 28-31, Oct. 2018.
• “Effective Brief Writing”, Valley Lawyer, p. 10-18, July 2018.
• “Barbie, Bratz, and a Pulp Fiction Take on the Litigation That Consumed Them Both”, Book Review for the Los Angeles Review of Books, January 23, 2018.
• “A “Christian Nation” with an Enlightenment Constitution”, Book Review for the Los Angeles Review of Books, June 10, 2017.
• “Find Local Counsel That Fits”, Daily Journal (Los Angeles), July 24, 2013.
• “Malpractice to “lose” punitive damages?”, Daily Journal (Los Angeles), April 4, 2013.
• “Malpractice Claims Linger After Class-Action Settlement”, Daily Journal (Los Angeles), Dec. 10, 2012.
• “Is the State Litigation Privilege No More?”, Daily Journal (Los Angeles), June 16, 2011.
• “Save the Whales- Save the Whalers- Wait, Just Save the International Whaling Commission: A Fresh Look at the Controversy Surrounding Cultural Claims to Whale”, Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, Volume 16, Issue 1, p. 253-282, Fall 2006.
- Association of Workplace Investigators, Member
- Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center, February 2025 to Present
- StartOut 2024 and 2025 Equity Summit Programming Board
- StartOut, Mentor, July 2023 to Present
- Starburst, Mentor, July 2023 to Present
- Altair Enterprises Ltd Advisory Board, Member, March 2023 to November 2023
- University of La Verne College of Law, Adjunct Professor, January 2022 to August 2022
- Jus Ad Astra, Legal Advisor, May 2021 to November 2023
- Smokey Hawk Solitons Advisory Board, Member, April 2021 to March 2023
- REC Innovation Lab, Mentor, July 2021 to December 2021
- The Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law, Adjunct Faculty Instructor, May 2019 to August 2021
Bridging Legal Landscapes Across America
Headquartered in Denver with a national footprint, we provide strategic legal representation that transcends geographical boundaries.
ContactExplore Careers