Executive Employment Dispute Lawyer: Equity, Departures, and Control
When an executive departure turns hostile — disputed equity, withheld compensation, accusations moving in both directions — the fight is rarely just about employment law. It is about money and control, and it is litigated that way. Astraea Counsel represents executives, founders, and companies in high-stakes departure and compensation disputes, led by litigator Brandon Orewyler.
Lead attorney: Brandon Orewyler, Founder & Principal
- Licensed in California · State Bar No. 324391 — verify
- Consultations scheduled directly with the attorney, not an intake desk
Departure fights we handle
- You are being pushed out and your equity or unvested shares are suddenly in question
- The company accuses a departing executive of breach, disloyalty, or taking confidential information
- Earned compensation — bonus, carry, severance — is being withheld as leverage
- You have been threatened with a non-compete or non-solicit claim in California
- A founder is being terminated just ahead of a vesting milestone
How we fight departure disputes
- Equity and vesting disputes litigated as what they are — contract and fiduciary-duty fights over ownership, the terrain where our shareholder-litigation practice lives
- Fiduciary-duty claims and defenses on either side of a departure, from board-level accusations to founder counterclaims
- Separation negotiations backed by real litigation capability — leverage comes from the other side knowing you will try the case
- Trade-secret and unfair-competition exposure managed alongside the departure, so one front does not sink the other
- Representation on both sides: the executive who built the company, or the company protecting itself
Recognition
- Astraea Counsel ranked in Chambers USA: Spotlight 2026 — Fintech (Los Angeles)
- Lawdragon 500 X — The Next Generation: Crypto Regulation, Disputes, Blockchain (2026), Chanté Eliaszadeh
- 2024 Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Award, The Burton Awards — Chanté Eliaszadeh, co-author (White & Case)
- Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America — Commercial Litigation (2027), Brandon Orewyler
- Summer honors intern, Cyber Unit, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2018), Chanté Eliaszadeh
- Invited speaker: American Bar Association Business Law Section, Korea Blockchain Week (BIF25), ETHDenver, GRR Live, Blockchain Law for Social Good Conference, Art Basel Miami, and Berkeley Law; keynote, Computational Law & Blockchain Festival
Common Questions
My equity is being clawed back as I leave. Can they do that?
It depends entirely on the paper: your grant agreements, vesting schedule, the plan documents, and how the termination is characterized. Some clawbacks are enforceable as written; others fail because the termination itself breached a duty or an agreement. The analysis starts with the documents, not with what HR told you.
Are non-competes enforceable in California?
Generally no — California law makes most non-compete agreements void, with narrow exceptions such as the sale of a business, and recent legislation has strengthened that ban. But employers still bring trade-secret and non-solicitation claims that can carry real teeth, so a threat letter deserves analysis, not panic — and not surrender.
Do you represent the executive or the company?
Both, though never in the same fight. Representing companies in governance and departure disputes sharpens how we press an executive's claims, and vice versa — each side's playbook informs the other.
Book a Call With Brandon Orewyler
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Schedule a confidential assessment of your departure or compensation dispute.
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