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Inside Yen Pilch Robaina & Kresin, the Tucson and Phoenix firm founded by a former Ninth Circuit law clerk that has spent three decades on employment law — representing employees in most matters, but candid that it also takes the occasional employer-side defense.
Yen Pilch Robaina & Kresin — At a Glance
| FIRM | Yen Pilch Robaina & Kresin, PLC |
| FOUNDED | 1997 — Bob Yen (J.D., Arizona State University, 1981) |
| SENIOR PARTNERS | Edmundo P. Robaina (nearly 25 years in labor and employment law); David C. Kresin |
| FOCUS | Employment law primarily (discrimination, wrongful termination, wage and hour, retaliation, FMLA), plus personal injury and estate planning |
| OFFICES | Phoenix and Tucson, also serving Mesa and Scottsdale |
| CONTACT | yprklaw.com |
Origin: A Ninth Circuit Clerkship to Three Decades of Employment Law
Bob Yen graduated from Arizona State University’s College of Law in 1981 and clerked for the Honorable Thomas Tang of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before founding what became Yen Pilch Robaina & Kresin in 1997. Edmundo Robaina has practiced labor and employment law for nearly 25 years, regularly advising and representing both individuals and business clients in discrimination and harassment matters. The firm has grown from its Phoenix roots to serve Tucson, Mesa, and Scottsdale as well, and later added personal injury and estate planning as additional practice groups.
Practice Areas
The firm’s employment work spans wrongful termination, workplace discrimination (race, age, disability, religion, national origin, sex, and sexual harassment), retaliation, wage and hour disputes, FMLA leave issues, and disability benefits and pension matters. Worth stating plainly, since it distinguishes this firm from an employee-exclusive practice: Yen Pilch Robaina & Kresin represents both employees and, in some matters, employers or individual professionals facing discrimination allegations — the firm’s own published client feedback includes a case where it defended, rather than pursued, a discrimination claim.
Track Record
The firm states it has helped clients secure millions of dollars in total settlements and verdicts across its three-decade employment practice, without publishing a specific case-by-case tally with independently verifiable dollar figures Awesome Attorneys could confirm.
Past-Results Disclaimer: These are the firm’s own general claims. Every case is different, and no past result guarantees a similar outcome in any future matter.
Client Voice
Client feedback published by the firm spans both sides of its practice: one reviewer, a doctor at a federal agency, described Robaina taking on a discrimination case with only weeks’ notice before a hearing and reviewing thousands of pages of records to build the case. A different reviewer — represented as a defendant rather than a plaintiff — described receiving what they called top-notch legal defense against discrimination allegations they said were false. A third, an educator at a non-union charter school, described turning to the firm after workplace treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Community
The firm’s attorneys are members of the employment law sections of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Arizona, and the Maricopa County Bar Association.
Recognition
Attorneys at the firm have been recognized by Chambers USA, Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, and hold Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Preeminent peer-review rating, per the firm’s own materials — all genuine, independently vetted credentials rather than pay-to-play marketing awards, though Awesome Attorneys was not able to independently confirm which specific attorneys hold which specific listing as of the research date.
The Arizona Legal Backdrop
What follows is general legal information, not legal advice.
Employment discrimination claims run through both federal law (Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA) and Arizona’s own civil rights statute, A.R.S. § 41-1463. Arizona is an at-will employment state, with exceptions under the Arizona Employment Protection Act, A.R.S. § 23-1501. Arizona’s minimum wage and paid sick time requirements run through A.R.S. § 23-362 et seq., adopted by voters via the 2016 Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act. Federal FMLA leave claims and disability/pension matters under ERISA add a further federal layer on top of this state framework.
The Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Yen Pilch Robaina & Kresin’s genuine strength is three decades of continuous, dual-city employment law practice with a founding partner’s federal appellate clerkship and real institutional credentials (Chambers, Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers) among its attorneys.
The honest caveat, and it’s a real one: unlike a firm that represents only employees, this practice takes matters on both sides of the employment relationship, including defending individuals and businesses against discrimination claims. Employees specifically seeking counsel who exclusively represents workers, with no employer-side conflicts anywhere in the firm’s practice, should confirm the specific arrangement for their matter directly.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched in August 2026 from yprklaw.com (firm site, attorney bios, published client testimonials), Martindale, and the Arizona FOPALC directory listing. Yen Pilch Robaina & Kresin, PLC did not commission, review, or pay for this profile.
Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice
This profile is an independent editorial article published by Awesome Attorneys. Awesome Attorneys does not endorse, recommend, or warrant any lawyer or law firm profiled on this site, and inclusion in this series is not paid placement.