Professional Experience
Kristin is an experienced employment law litigator and counselor. She has over 18 years of experience handling employment matters at all levels, from employee complaints and demand letters to settlements and trial proceedings. She has managed and litigated cases in a variety of venues, including state and federal actions, administrative proceedings, and alternative dispute resolutions. Kristin has also managed non-litigation transactions, advising and counseling clients on day-to-day human resource issues, performing compliance and policy updates, and conducting internal investigations and employee trainings. She has published several articles and spoken to employers and attorneys alike at seminars and on panels, regarding the challenges employers face in the workplace with California’s ever-changing legal landscape.
Kristin handles a broad range of employment situations, including matters involving:
- Breach of employment contracts
- Class and collective actions
- California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leaves
- Defamation and business reputation damage
- Discrimination based on protected classes
- Employee policy revisions and implementation
- Hiring, training, counseling, disciplining, and dismissal of workforces
- Harassment
- Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA)
- Retaliation
- Retirements and exit packages
- Trade secrets and confidential information
- Unfair business practice allegations
- Wage and hour issues
- Workplace tort claims
- Wrongful termination claims
Community
Kristin is and has always been actively involved in the community. She is passionate about youth and community enrichment. She currently sits as a School Site Council Member for a local school in Contra Costa County and as a member of the Parent Advisory Committee to the Superintendent of the Mount Diablo Unified School District. She is a Board Member for the Alcohol and Other Drugs Services Advisory Board to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. She is also a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. She has worked as a leader to bring Girl Scouts across the Bay Area rich cultural exchange with other Bay Area Girl Scouts through theater programming. She is also the former Director of Oakland for the Max Rhymes Foundation for reading and a former Local Advisory Council of Oakland Member for PlayWorks (formerly Sports4Kids).
She has served as a director on both the Boards of the Alameda County Bar Association and Women Lawyers of Alameda County and sat on the Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment Section of the Alameda County Bar. She is also an Alumni Ambassador and former Chair of the California Minority Counsel Program, Ambassador’s Council. Kristin is a former volunteer for both the Alameda County Bar Association’s Lawyers in the Library Program and the Bar Association of San Francisco Volunteer Legal Services Program.
Education
Kristin received her juris doctor from the University of California Hastings, College of the Law. While in law school she litigated her first employment case in Alameda County Superior Court, with Hastings Civil Justice Clinic. She was also the Vice President of the Black Law Student Association. She also externed for the Honorable Randall J. Newsome (Ret.) at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.
Prior to attending law school, Kristin earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics and African American studies with a minor in Accounting from the University of California at Los Angeles. While an undergrad, Kristin was a college honors student. She also served as the Los Angeles Leadership Education And Development Program (LEAD) Alumni Association Coordinator.
Personal
Kristin is a Bay Area native, where she currently resides with her husband and three children. She and her family are avid board gamers and readers, with a collection of nearly 600 board games and thousands of books. Kristin loves fine art and enjoys art auctions when she can attend. She is a live theater and performing arts enthusiast and is a current and former patron-subscriber to many local production companies. She is a trained singer and loves singing with her children who are also singers. Kristin also owns a local catering company with her twin sister, and enjoys cooking and baking with and for the community and her friends and family.