Attorneys
Shane Charles Youtz (born 1966) received a B.A., with honors, from the University of Wyoming in 1988 and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1991. He is licensed to practice in state and federal court in New Mexico and California. He is a member of the American Trial Lawyers Association and the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee.
Shane specializes in representing workers individually and through their unions and on behalf of classes of plaintiffs in class action litigation. Shane has litigated claims on behalf of workers and unions against the largest corporations in the world and has successfully tried lawsuits to juries on behalf of individuals as well as on behalf of classes of individuals. His most recent class action jury trial was a one month trial in December, 2002, tried in Oregon federal court against Wal-Mart, in which the jury returned a verdict for several hundred workers, finding that Wal-Mart intentionally worked its employees off-the-clock in Oregon. The verdict made headlines in the New York Times and was reported on National Public Radio and the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. Shane is currently litigating antitrust, employment and consumer fraud class actions in New Mexico, California, Oregon and West Virginia.
Shane's experience on behalf of unions includes work in many trial courts, in The United States Court of Appeals
and work before the National Labor Relations Board. He also has extensive experience with labor arbitrations and negotiating collective bargaining agreements.
Shane has litigated cases in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Iowa, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Utah and is admitted to practice before several state and federal courts.
Shane is married to Lisa Simoni-Youtz and they have two sons, Kahlo and Cassady.
Gabrielle Valdez is a trial lawyer primarily representing plaintiffs who deserve compensation for injuries they have suffered due to negligent or irresponsible acts of others.
She received both her bachelor and law degrees from the University of New Mexico where she served on both the University of New Mexico Moot Court Team and as the Administrative Editor of the Natural Resources Journal.
Ms. Valdez was admitted to the New Mexico bar in 1994 where she is licensed to practice in both the state and federal courts. She is the current editor of the Verdict and Settlement column of the New Mexico Trial Lawyer Journal and is a Board member of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association (NMTLA). She also serves on the United States District Court Rules Committee presided over by Magistrate Judge Richard Puglisi. Ms Valdez is also a member of the American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA) and serves as the minority delegate for New Mexico for ATLA.
She has previous experience working in the New Mexico state legislature where she acted as chief bill analyst for the Senate Pro Tem.
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