Kurtis R. Urien

Kurtis Urien (yoo-RYE-in) is of counsel in the Orange County office and focuses on advice and counsel in labor and employment law. Kurtis is a member of the California Advice and Counsel resource group.

Kurtis builds and leads high performance teams that deliver on evolving California and national client employer needs while protecting brand and managing risk.  Kurtis has an entrepreneurial spirit combined with business experience that has shaped him into an advice and counsel employment attorney with a keen focus on meeting business objections by finding a way to say ‘yes’ while complying with the everchanging employment law landscape.  He enjoys solving complex challenges and interfacing with the talented people with whom he works to protect clients’ brands.

Kurtis counsels employers on a variety of employment of issues, including wage and hour, M&A due diligence and preparation, employment agreements, compensation and commission agreements, background checks, on-boarding and terminations, independent contractors, FLSA classifications, workplace investigations, workplace accommodations, employee handbooks and policies, workplace violence, leave of absences, restrictive covenants and confidentiality agreements, and litigation avoidance.

Kurtis partners with companies to help them find equal footing with employees in an everchanging California employment law landscape.  Kurtis helps employers find real world and practical solutions in an environment that seems stacked against employers.

Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, Kurtis practiced business and corporate law in addition to employment law advice and counsel.  Kurtis is a business fanatic and enjoys learning about client industries, operations, and services and uses that understanding to craft unique solutions.  Kurtis began his legal career practicing employment litigation defense and successfully advocated for employers.

While attending law school, Kurtis was a member of Law Review as an article author, editor, and symposium member and served as a Dean’s Fellow mentoring fellow students.  Since graduating law school, Kurtis has taught employment law, human resources, and other business classes at the collegiate and graduate level.

Honors and Recognitions

• Super Lawyers, Rising Star (2017-2024)

Speeches

• “Working with the California Department Financial Protection and Innovation,” Credit and Collection 2023 Annual Conference (San Diego, California, March 2023) (Panelist)

Published Works

• “Will the JOBS Act’s Transformative Regulatory Regime for Equity Offerings Cost Investment Bankers’ Jobs?” Texas A&M Law Review (2014) [Author] 1 Tex. A&M L. Rev 559.
• “Crowdfunding 6.0: Does the SEC’s FinTechLaw Failure Reveal the Agency’s True Mission to Protect – Solely Accredited – Investors?” (2015) [Co-author] 9 Entrepren. & Bus. L.J. 277.