Tracy J. Luu-Varnes

Client Work

Tracy’s diverse legal experience includes litigating complex commercial and employment disputes, providing advice and counsel on various issues to avoid litigation, and defending clients in investigations by the government or other regulatory and enforcement agencies. 

Tracy represents individuals and companies in a wide range of litigation matters, including disputes involving breach of contract, fraud, intellectual property, director and officers’ liability, and employment matters.  She actively participates in all phases of litigation from the inception of a case, through discovery, to resolution – including negotiating favorable settlements.  To do so, Tracy develops successful litigation strategies that meet the objectives of the companies and/or individual clients.  

In addition to litigation, an important focus of Tracy’s practice is counseling.  Tracy regularly consults with clients regarding their best practices and works with clients in developing workplace procedures and policies that meet their goals.  She also works with clients in drafting various legal documents, including severance agreements and other operational documents to ensure compliance with federal and state laws, regulations, and ordinances. 

Some of Tracy’s notable representations include:

• Defending employers in multifaceted wage and hour class actions and suits pertaining to the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA).
• Defending dealerships in litigation and administrative hearings before the New Motor Vehicle Board.
• Defending companies and/or the company’s management in litigations involving allegations of breach of contracts, tort, and fraud.
• Representing over a dozen adults and minors in a habitability lawsuit against the property owners and property managers of an apartment building that had issues with pest infestations, mold, and water intrusion.
• Defending an international manufacturer and retailer in a patent infringement dispute.
• Defending the majority shareholder in a closely held corporation in an involuntary dissolution claim.
• Representing a major national bank, a non-profit corporation, and a national healthcare provider in investigations by the government or other regulatory agencies.
• Representing a client in the dissolution of the client’s New York partnership.
• Representing foster parents in finalizing the adoptions of minors in foster care. 

Professional Activities

Tracy’s professional and personal philosophy includes giving back in ways that make a meaningful difference in the community.   Tracy has represented pro bono clients in a wide range of issues, including immigration and habitability issues.    

Tracy is a member of the firm’s Immigration Initiative, where she represents minors seeking asylum in the U.S.  She has also successfully represented a client in an asylum case before the Immigration Court. 

Additionally, Tracy regularly represents parents in the adoption of minors, out of the foster care system and into a forever home.

Other professional activities include:

• Los Angeles Bar Association
• Pasadena Bar Association
• Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Certificate, 2011

Previous Work

Prior to joining ArentFox Schiff, Tracy was an associate at an international law firm.

She served as a judicial extern to The Honorable Victoria Kaufman, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Publications & Presentations

• Author of “Excepting Misconduct,” Los Angeles Lawyer, December 2017. 

• Presenter at 2019 ArentFox Schiff Employment Conference (2018 landmark employment cases, updates to sexual harassment laws, and foreseeable trends in employment law).