Representative Experience
Management-side employment law counseling and the defense of employment-related claims

Assists employers in managing human resources strategy, risk avoidance, labor relations, and day-to-day employee relationships, including:

• Preparation and review of executive employment agreements and proprietary information agreements
  
• Negotiation of collective bargaining agreements
  
• Assistance with due diligence and M&A risk assessment in business transactions
  
• Conduct of sexual harassment investigations and mediation of workplace disputes
  
• Secondment as interim in-house employment counsel for a system of 20,000 employees
  
• Evaluation of exempt and non-exempt employee status to determine employer exposure to both individual and class wage and hour claims
  
• Advise employers in statistical analysis of their workforces to reduce EEO litigation risk

• Co-counsel for an employer in a multi-plaintiff jury trial in federal district court, defending cutting-edge wage and hour claims involving exemptions for computer professionals in California. The trial resulted in a complete defense verdict.
  
• First-chair counsel defending a national media company against claims of gender discrimination, harassment, and retaliation by a popular anchorwoman. The case resulted in a complete defense verdict.
  
• First-chair counsel involving premises liability claims for an employee death, obtaining a complete defense verdict.
  
• Co-counsel pursuing a trespass action on behalf of a large retailer under California’s Pruneyard Shopping Center doctrine, obtaining a TRO and stipulated permanent injunction for property owner.
  
• Primary counsel in more than 300 NLRB proceedings and labor arbitrations.
  
• Favorable settlement of a complex and difficult disability case with a substantial seven-figure exposure for the employer.
  
• Favorable settlement of a challenging racial harassment case on terms agreeable to the employer.

Prior Experience
Partner, Litigation Department, Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, San Francisco, CA

Associate, O’Melveny & Myers, San Francisco, CA

Memberships and Activities
State Bar of California; Northern District of California; Central District of California; District of Columbia Bar (inactive)

Northern California Human Resources Association, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals

Education
J.D., University of Arkansas School of Law, 1993

• Ranked First in Class
  
• Arkansas Law Review