O'Brien Law Firm - for Texas Employees

02/10/2026

Here’s a kind review, fresh off the press, from an employee the O’Brien Law Firm helped as a public service at no charge.

When my firm cannot formally take on a case for certain reasons and my schedule allows it, I will sometimes help a Texas employee if I believe a little lawyerly pressure can make a real difference for someone who needs help, and often quickly.

In this case, after months of the employer stonewalling his former employee, a few calls and messages by me were enough to get it done. The employer ultimately decided that voluntarily paying the employee’s back wages was the best choice from the alternate future I presented to him if he didn't.

- Kerry O'Brien

03/28/2025

Kerry O'Brien was just selected for the 2025 Super Lawyers list, making it the 3rd year in a row that he was chosen for this distinction.

03/28/2025

Another Happy Client reviewing Kerry O'Brien's fierce but compassionate advocacy on Avvo.com.

https://www.avvo.com/attorneys/authorized/78746-tx-kerry-obrien-76692

03/28/2025

The O'Brien Law Firm gets a 100% win for client's $152K of unpaid sales commission through an arbitration hearing.

View the latest news regarding the O'Brien Law Firm and the many successful cases we have brought to our clients.

08/05/2024

Another great recent online review from another happy unpaid commissions client at the O'Brien Law Firm. ⚖️💪🔑💵

03/19/2024

For the second year in a row, Thomson Reuters has selected me, Kerry O'Brien, as a Texas Super Lawyer®. I work on behalf of Texas employees and independent contractors, giving my clients massive leverage on their employment compensation and contract disputes and helping them recover valuable unpaid commissions, bonuses, equity, and overtime pay.

While I'm tempted to take the day off to celebrate, given that it's a Tuesday, I may just settle for some tacos tonight. ⚖️🏆🌮🌮🌮

08/02/2023

It makes my day to see wonderful reviews from clients like this. I can guess which client wrote this, and it was a pleasure to help them get a fantastic result in their unpaid bonus/commissions case, and really, they were just great to work with.

03/19/2023

After returning from a wonderful trip to Ireland, I stopped by my law office to review the mail. I was surprised to see that Thomson Reuters had named me as a 2023 Super Lawyer.

"I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member." - Groucho Marx

Setting that truth aside, some of my colleagues must have nominated me for this distinction, and because of that, I'll accept it with appreciation, even if I only care about being the "right" lawyer for my firm's Super Clients, who are employees and executives trying to get paid the compensation that they are owed for their valuable work. - Kerry O'Brien

10/20/2021

I was just recalling a lawyer photo shoot I did, just for fun, in 2016, with the help of local photographer and good dude John Chung, for the Texas employee compensation dispute law firm. I had had for a while a vision for a boxing scene that exemplifies the fact that as a lawyer, the power of the law gives me strength that I can use to have my client's back when they otherwise don't have the leverage to fight back on their own.

On a cold January morning, the owner of the Fit Pit boxing gym in south Austin graciously allowed me to rent the gym for 30 minutes before they opened. I asked a former overtime case client to come and be my knocked-out client for a session fee. And we did lots of photos from various angles. I used a boxing mouthpiece for the first time in my life (felt like I was at the dentist).

Later, I spent a few hours taking the raw photo in Photoshop and making it conform to what I imagined, and it really turned out basically as I had it in my head. It's a fun photo that makes a point, and it's now a magnet that my clients will often get with their settlement checks, to remind them of both the power and the beauty that the rule of law can give individuals who otherwise feel powerless (and how to get a hold of me in the future, of course).

I'll put the raw and finished photos below, just to show the transformation from the photo session to finished product.

10/08/2020

The O'Brien Law Firm has filed suit again a central Texas city on behalf of a police chief who we allege was fired in violation of his employment contract.

By MIKE EDDLEMAN The tug-of-war between former police chief Maverick Campbell and the Liberty Hill City Council moved to a new level Oct. 1 when Campbell filed a civil lawsuit against the City. The suit – filed in District Court – is for breach of contract, and seeks more than $290,000 in lost w...

08/14/2020

*** The O'Brien Law Firm holds a company to the deal they made ***

On July 14-15, 2020, the O'Brien Law Firm represented its client, J.W., against an insurance tech company, in an arbitration before the American Arbitration Association. The entire 15-hour arbitration was held over Zoom. J.W. is a former company VP who was fired halfway through his 3-year term contract. The company failed to provide him 30 days' notice of the termination and an opportunity to "cure" whatever problems it had with him (and in fact, the problems were not due to him), and they also failed to pay him his bonuses due.

Today, the arbitrator issued an award in favor of J.W. for $376,000, which is almost 100% of what he requested. The company's last settlement offer was $30,000. The final award will likely top $420,000 after attorney fees and costs are awarded by the arbitrator. While we still have to collect on the arbitration award to put money in hand, J.W. is feeling very happy and vindicated right now. It has been a very knives-out contentious case for the past 16 months, and for J.W., it was a very stressful experience. But, the O'Brien Law Firm is proud to have done him right on this one.

The O'Brien Law Firm is the leverage that Texas employees and executives need to get the wages, commissions, and bonuses they deserve.

01/21/2020

*** The O'Brien Law Firm successfully defends an exploited Indian H-1B visa worker in Court ***

On January 6, 2020, the O'Brien Law Firm represented Mahesh, an H-1B visa worker from India, who was being sued by Software Global, in a trial in Travis County Court-at-Law No. 2. It appears that Software Global has been engaging in a pattern of promising a job in the United States to Indian workers, on an H-1B visa basis, but having no job for them when they arrive. Software Global would require them to find their own work elsewhere, and then as the visa sponsor, skim a cut of their wages. Software Global would also require these Indian workers to sign a contract agreeing to pay Software Global tens of thousands of dollars - in this case, $35,000 - if they leave Software Global within one year's time.

Mahesh flew here to Austin from India in 2016, with no US credit card, and no US phone, but ready to work. But there was no job, and he was expected to live in a one-bedroom apartment with 2 other Indian H-1B visa workers while he searched for one. Software Global refused to pay him (although federal law required it) during this period of time, until Mahesh found work on his own. It took 7 weeks to find, and that job was in Georgia. A few months later, when Mahesh's former employer offered him a job with new visa sponsorship in San Diego, he moved on. Software Global then sued him for $35,000 - far more than Software Global had paid him for his 4 months of work.

During the case, the O'Brien Law Firm filed a complaint with the US Department of Labor, who ultimately ordered Software Global to pay Mahesh $12,000 in back wages. But Software Global still pursued the case for the $35,000 in liquidated damages to court. The gall. But fortunately, they lost.

We believe that this case was a test case for the company - they were determining the degree to which they could enforce this liquidated damages clause against other H-1B visa workers it lures over here, on false pretenses - in other words, how much further the company could exploit them. But the Court said no, and dismissed Software Global's claims in their entirety.

Mahesh is a kind, hardworking Indian national who didn't deserve to be treated like this. Needless to say, he was ecstatic and relieved when he learned of the result - that the U.S. justice system had done the right thing, for his behalf, and now he could move on.