The Ever-Evolving Standard of Review in ERISA Health and Disability Litigation

Anthony E. Castillon-Mendoza

Frances E. Agoncillo

Frances Agoncillo is in Burke’s Litigation Practice Group. She holds a Juris Doctorate from Southwestern Law School’s two-year accelerated J.D. Program with a Civil Litigation concentration. During her time in law school, Frances earned a Public Service Distinction through her involvement in Southwestern Law School’s Small Claims Clinic, and her externships with Los Angeles County Office of the County Counsel, and the licensing division of the California Department of Justice. Prior to joining Burke, Frances worked as an associate for an established Los Angeles law firm where she represented various entities in a range of matters, including general liability matters, landlord-tenant matters, and premises liability matters, through every step of the litigation. Outside of the office, Frances enjoys singing karaoke, taking a hot yoga or strength training class, and spending time with her family and friends.

Brandon A. Sanchez

Brandon Sanchez has dedicated his legal practice exclusively to all aspects of municipal law, with an emphasis on code enforcement, nuisance abatement, and land use. Brandon also excels at drafting regulatory and enforcement ordinances, including cannabis, short-term rental, massage, sidewalk vending, appeal procedures, nuisance abatement, administrative citation, and cost recovery ordinances, among others. Brandon has been a contributing editor to the last five editions of the California Municipal Law Handbook, helping draft the primary practice guide for municipal attorneys. He has also taught courses all over the State and published articles on various aspects of municipal law. Brandon also served on the League of California Cities' Cannabis Regulation Committee from 2019 to 2024.

Jason A. James

Jason James is a partner in Burke’s Irvine office where he specializes in defending insurance companies in matters relating to life, health, and disability coverage, insurance bad faith, and ERISA. He also defends management in employment related disputes involving wrongful termination and employment discrimination, as well as commercial and general business matters. Jason has represented companies in federal and state courts throughout California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Jason earned his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of San Diego, and worked in business finance before attending law school. He obtained his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2009. Before joining Burke, he spent 11 years with the firm Meserve, Mumper & Hughes, LLP in Los Angeles, including serving as its managing partner from 2020 to 2024.

Nicole Y. Blohm

Nicole Blohm is an experienced litigator in the life, health and disability and ERISA practice area. In addition to litigation, she served as in-house counsel and law department manager for an insurer. Nicole applies her insurance experience to her litigation practice and focuses on quality and efficiency. Nicole defends insurance carriers in short and long term disability, accidental death and dismemberment, and life insurance benefits disputes governed by ERISA and state laws. She practices in Federal and State courts in California and the Ninth Circuit and handles matters from the pre-litigation stage through final resolution, including negotiations, mediations, trials, and appeals.

Andrew T. Magaline

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John E. Bauman III

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Alena Shamos

Alena Shamos has been a litigator since 2001 and has focused on public law since 2005. Alena served as Deputy City Attorney for the cities of San Marcos and Lemon Grove, and has represented various cities throughout San Diego County, including Vista, Chula Vista, Carlsbad, Escondido, National City, and Oceanside, as well as cities throughout the State of California, including Novato, Lathrop, Calabasas, and Rancho Mirage. Alena’s litigation experience includes election issues, validation/reverse validation, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), land use, cannabis enforcement and permitting, short-term rental legislation defense, quo warranto actions, and real property disputes. Her published appellate decisions include Moore v. City of Lemon Grove (2015) 237 Cal. App. 4th 363 (upholding sewer rates under Proposition 218). She obtained a favorable result for many agencies in The Affordable Housing Coalition of San Diego v. Drager, et al., August 25, 2020 No. C083811 (Post Redevelopment Enforceable Obligations) and the subsequent decision in the same matter (DCA Case No. C097016) in 2024. From 2018 through 2022, Alena served on the City of Chula Vista’s Campaign Contribution Enforcement Authority. She has also provided election law advice to various cities including Imperial Beach and National City. Alena has argued before various divisions of the California Court of Appeal as well as the California Supreme Court. She is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the 9th Circuit as well as the District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California. She has also appeared before the Southern District of California Bankruptcy Court to enforce a public entity’s ability to enforce its ordinances. Alena has also published articles pertaining to California Civil Procedure and in 2020, 2021, and 2023, she co-authored materials and presented before the San Diego Appellate Inn of Court on various topics, including stays, writs of supersedeas, and appellate writ procedures in various types of matters. Alena is fluent in Russian and speaks Spanish. APPELLATE EXPERIENCE California Supreme Court Boling, et. al. v. Public Employment Relations Board (2018) 5 Cal.5th 898 (initiative rights in the context of municipal labor relations) Cal Fire Local 2881 v. California Public Employees’ Retirement System (2019) 6 Cal.5th 965 (pension contracts, counsel for amicus) The Affordable Housing Coalition of San Diego v. Drager, et al., Case No. S264333 (post-redevelopment enforceable obligations (review denied, Oct. 28, 2020)) City of San Marcos v. California Public Utilities Commission (San Diego Gas & Electric Company), Case No. S266969 (original writ asserting CEQA challenge to Commission decision) (unpublished, July 28, 2021) Court of Appeal for Third Appellate District The Affordable Housing Coalition of San Diego v. Drager, et al., DCA Case No. C083811 (post-redevelopment enforceable obligations (unpublished, Aug. 25, 2020) The Affordable Housing Coalition of San Diego v. Drager, et al., DCA Case No. C097016 (post-redevelopment enforceable obligations and denial of Petitioner’s fee award and untimely challenge to writ returns (unpublished, Mar. 22, 2024.) Court of Appeal for Fourth Appellate District, Division One (San Diego) Moore v. City of Lemon Grove (2015) 237 Cal.App.4th 363 (upheld city sanitary district sewer rates under Proposition 218) City of El Centro v. Lanier (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 1494 (charter city home rule) Endangered Habitats League, Inc. v. City of San Marcos et al., DCA Case No. D072404 (mandatory trial date request in CEQA case (unpublished, May 3, 2018) Boling, et. al. v. Public Employment Relations Board (2017) 10 Cal.App.5th 853, and on remand, Boling, et. al. v. Public Employment Relations Board (2019) 33 Cal.App.5th 376 (initiative rights in labor relations context) UL Chula Two LLC v. City of Chula Vista et al., DCA Case No. D079215 (upheld city’s discretion to deny a cannabis business application and due process of administrative appeal) (unpublished, Oct. 24, 2022) Frank Zimmerman Collective v. City of Vista, DCA Case No. D082921, pending, filed Oct. 6, 2023 (appeal by cannabis applicant of trial court judgment denying petition for writ of mandate) Court of Appeal for Fourth Appellate District, Division Three (Santa Ana) City of El Cajon v. San Diego County LAFCO, DCA Case No. G041793 (upheld challenge to denial of island annexation (unpublished, Aug. 11, 2010) City of El Cajon v. San Diego County LAFCO, DCA Case No. G045021 (upheld denial of attorneys’ fees to city in island annexation dispute (unpublished, Mar. 28, 2012) Court of Appeal for the Sixth Appellate District People, ex rel. v. City of San Jose et al.; Constant, et al., DCA Case No. CV245503 (quo warranto action regarding initiative (unpublished, May 9, 2018)

Joanna Kwong

Joanna Kwong is an associate attorney in Burke’s Silicon Valley office and is a member of the Labor and Employment Practice Group. Joanna represents public and private sector employers in all aspects of labor and employment law, including discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, disability, reasonable accommodation, leave requirements, and discipline and dismissal in personnel matters. Prior to joining Burke, Joanna practiced education law and provided legal counsel to California school districts and county offices of education.

Michael W. Barrett

Michael Barrett has more than thirty years-experience as a public lawyer, including more than eighteen years as an in-house City Attorney for the City of Napa. Michael’s previous in-house experience included the cities of Fremont and Tracy as a deputy and assistant city attorney, and the City of Oceanside as a law clerk. Michael began his legal career in a San Diego firm representing both public and private development and construction clients. Michael has successfully advised public clients regarding a wide range of legal issues related to the administration and operations of municipal governments and public utilities. Michael has assisted public officials in the establishment and implementation of public revenue generation systems that equitably allocate costs to benefitting parties to fund essential public infrastructure and services. Michael’s experience includes the evaluation and preparation of documents needed for ballot materials, charter amendments, property and business owner approved assessment districts, enhanced infrastructure financing districts, and local agency approved ordinances and resolutions establishing fees and rates for services. Michael has extensive experience in complex contractual transactions for large construction projects, multi-agency extra-territorial cooperative agreements, public-private partnerships, negotiating development agreements with private developers, and transfers of public property in compliance with requirements of the surplus land act. Michael works with public agency client representatives to clearly understand the client’s goals and identify the most effective means of achieving those goals while soundly documenting compliance with procedural and substantive legal requirements.

Jackson D. Morgus

Jackson Morgus is a Senior Associate in Burke’s Oakland office. His practice primarily focuses on civil litigation with an emphasis on civil rights, constitutional law and tort liability. Jackson is an experienced and versatile litigator, having previous experience in construction litigation, corporate litigation, partnership disputes, real estate transactions and litigation, government torts, probate litigation, estate planning, family law, insurance defense, corporate governance, and shareholder derivative actions. Jackson studied economics and English at Santa Clara University. Jackson also attended law school at Santa Clara University, where he received an Emery Merit Scholarship and the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Federal Income Tax. Between undergraduate and law school, Jackson took a year to play competitive hockey for the Sun Valley Suns. After taking the bar while awaiting results, he worked for the Democratic Party on the 2016 Presidential and Wisconsin state elections. Away from the office, Jackson is the head coach of the Santa Clara University hockey team. He enjoys playing golf and hockey, particularly with friends and family.

Evan Louis Miller

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Karin A. Schambeck

Karin Schambeck is a partner with Burke Williams & Sorensen, LLP in the firm’s Public Law practice group. Her practice focuses on advising public agency clients on general municipal law issues with an emphasis on land use and zoning. Karin routinely handles contractual and transactional matters such as drafting various types of agreements involving small and large-scale development projects, preparing resolutions and ordinances, and advising on CEQA matters and regulations. She is experienced with handling successor agency matters and affordable housing projects. Prior to joining Burke Williams, Karin’s practice included representing California Fire Districts, cities, and developers in land use, real estate, environmental regulation, CEQA, and associated transactions. Karin also has twenty-three years of experience in estate planning. Karin was admitted to the Utah State Bar in 2001 and practiced law in Utah for four years, focusing on municipal law, land use, and estate planning. She was admitted to the California State Bar in 2006.

Paul A. Aguilar

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Briana D. Williams

Briana Williams is an accomplished litigator with specific expertise in complex litigation. Briana specializes in providing strategic legal advice to business owners, C-suite executives, and investors. She also represents employers in matters involving discrimination, harassment, and whistleblower retaliation claims. She is highly skilled in drafting complex pleadings, arguing motions, and managing the discovery process to ensure favorable outcomes. Briana earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where she was actively involved in extracurricular activities and served as the Director of Communications for the Harvard Black Law Students Association. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies from Saint John’s University, where she graduated with honors and demonstrated leadership as the President of Phi Alpha Delta. In addition to her legal career, Briana is a certified Financial Valuation and Analysis for Lawyers practitioner and has completed courses in Digital Media Marketing and Sustainable Business Strategy from reputable institutions. Outside of her professional legal endeavors, Briana is a talented entrepreneur who founded SAULT & Co. LLC, an athletic apparel company. She has been recognized by the National Black Lawyers as a Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer and is fluent in Spanish, with proficiency in Japanese. Briana also contributes to reputable publications such as USA Today and BuzzFeed News. With her passion for law, dedication to excellence, and commitment to making a positive impact, Briana Williams is a valuable asset to the legal community and the clients she serves.

Blithe S. Bock

Davin A. Widgerow

Davin Widgerow is a partner in Burke’s San Diego office. He received his J.D. from the University of Madison, Wisconsin, in 2011, and his B.A. cum laude in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2005. Davin has extensive experience representing public agencies in both advisory and litigation roles, including as a Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Diego, and a Deputy Attorney General for the California Department of Justice. Davin is familiar with the full range of laws affecting California public agencies, particularly in environmental and land use law. He has special expertise advising agencies and litigating cases involving the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act, CERCLA, hazardous waste laws, toxic tort law, and a suite of related laws and regulations involving air quality, water quality and flood control, public contracting, open meetings laws, and the Public Records Act, among others. Davin is also an experienced litigator, and has handled cases involving CEQA, air quality regulations, insurance coverage disputes, and permitting and hazardous waste issues. In his spare time, Davin loves backpacking, hiking, photography, and spending time with his nephew and niece.

Deann R. Rivard

Deann Rivard is a senior associate in Burke’s Los Angeles office. Deann represents law enforcement officers and law enforcement agencies in civil rights violations lawsuits. Previously, Deann was a Deputy District Attorney at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office where she responded to officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths, prosecuted multiple murder cases, prepared and argued numerous motions. She has completed over 60 felony jury trials. Deann was a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department for 9 years after becoming a lawyer.

Nathan D. Andersen

Nathan Andersen is an associate in Burke’s San Diego Office. His practice focuses on civil litigation with an emphasis on business defense, construction, employment, landlord-tenant law, and general tort litigation. Nathan’s technical research skills paired with his perceptiveness and personability make him a commanding force in the courtroom, depositions, and settlement negotiations. Before joining Burke, Nathan gained valuable experience in civil litigation and public entity defense. Additionally, he has dedicated over 1,000 hours of community service combined to the following organizations: San Diego City Attorney’s Office, Legal Aid Society, Clean Slate Clinic, and Elder Law & Advocacy. This time spent provided him with invaluable experience in the San Diego Superior Court second chairing trials, arguing motions, appearing on hearings, assisting victims of domestic violence, elder abuse, and aiding in unlawful detainer matters. When not working, Nathan enjoys playing soccer, surfing, and snowboarding.

Michaela Battista Sozio

Michaela Sozio has over 29 years of experience as a courtroom litigator. She has significant experience in all areas defending corporate and individual clients in a variety of complex litigation matters, including catastrophic personal injury claims and wrongful death, negligence, premises liability, business torts, intellectual property claims (copyright and trademark infringement, misappropriation of likeness), defamation, trade disparagement, products liability, breach of contract, and other litigated matters. Michaela also has experience monitoring litigation and providing case evaluations for excess insurance carriers of defendants in high-exposure court actions, and advising commercial entities on issues related to risk management.

Tiffiny M. Fox

Tiffiny M. Walls-Fox is an experienced civil litigator and trial lawyer who takes an entrepreneurial and efficient approach to helping clients resolve their most daunting legal challenges. In her career, she has first or second chaired five trials, including three jury trials. In her most recent trial, Tiffiny secured a defense verdict within 45 minutes of deliberation after a three week jury trial. Tiffiny has successfully negotiated hundreds of litigated and non-litigated matters, involving business disputes, general liability, products liability, premises liability, wrongful death, and catastrophic injury cases. Tiffiny’s practice consists of performing Examinations under Oath in tandem with the special investigations unit for insurance carriers and defending public entities such as cities, school districts, utility companies and transportation agencies. In this vein, she defends claims of dangerous conditions of public property, claims of liability stemming from the wrongful conduct or negligent acts of employees, and claims in defense of employment-related matters. These defenses range from roadway design, to the protocols and practices for maintaining streets, sidewalks, and infrastructure, to urban forestry, as well as termination and/or discriminatory employment-related matters. While Tiffiny’s practice focuses on public-entity defense, she has extensive experience in complex civil litigation, insurance defense, and investigating insurance fraud. Tiffiny is also a thought leader in the development and implementation of DEI programs and initiatives to attract, retain, and mentor diverse attorneys to promote the evolving need for a diverse legal community.

Alexandra Mulhall

Alexandra (Alex) Mulhall is a an associate in Burke’s Los Angeles office where she is a member of Burke’s Public Law and Litigation practice groups. Alex advises and represents public entity clients on a variety of matters, including the California Public Records Act and the Brown Act. Alex earned her J.D. from the University of California Los Angeles School of Law. During law school, Alex interned for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, as well as the Los Angeles County Counsel in the Government Services Division. Alex served as a Managing Editor of the UCLA Journal of Gender & Law. Alex also worked for the UCLA Voting Rights Project as a law fellow, assisting in voting rights litigation and policy initiatives. Prior to law school, Alex graduated summa cum laude from the University of Wyoming with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Honors. Throughout her undergraduate studies, Alex served in student government which allowed her to engage with both the local city council and state legislature, lobbying for student needs.

Zachery A. Lopes

Zachery joins the firm with several years of experience in all matters of public sector collective bargaining. This includes serving as a lead negotiator, administrative litigator before local adjudicative bodies, contracted adjudicators, and the California Public Employee Relations Board ("PERB"), and civil litigator in both state and federal courts with an emphasis on collective bargaining and public law matters. Zachery is also an experienced appellate litigator, having served as lead counsel for and argued matters before several state courts of appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, and lead counsel before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of several large entity clients as amicus curiae. He is also experienced with public employee disciplinary matters. Zachery received his law degree with distinction from the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. He is a member of the Roger J. Traynor Society, McGeorge's scholastic honor society. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Davis, with majors in political science and philosophy, and is an alumnus of the University of California Washington Center. Zachery is currently a graduate student at the University of Southern California's Sol Price School of Public Policy.

Marc Barraza Tran

Marc Barraza Tran is an attorney in Burke’s Public Law practice group. Marc’s practice includes both litigation and transactional representation pertaining to public law and constitutional law. His practice also includes housing, real estate, land use and zoning, and environmental law. He previously served as the City Attorney for the City of Adelanto, Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Bell Gardens and La Puente, and Deputy City Attorney for dozens of cities throughout the state. Marc earned his law degree from the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly Hastings College of the Law), where he was Production Editor for the Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal. During law school, he served as judicial extern for the Honorable Virginia A. Phillips of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the Honorable Carol D. Codrington of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. He also interned with the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. Prior to attending law school, Marc was a community organizer in the Inland Empire. He earned his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from the University of California, Riverside. He is licensed to practice law in the State of California. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and whittling.

Alan M. Cohen

Alan brings thirty-years of experience to the firm’s Public Law, Labor and Employment and Litigation Practice groups. Alan is a trusted solution-oriented advisor whose public agency devoted practice spans fifteen years as in-house counsel for the cities of Alameda and Vallejo and over a decade in private practice defending public agencies and their law enforcement agencies in civil rights and tort liability cases. Alan’s specialties include municipal governance, police practices and procedures, labor and employment, energy and utilities, risk management, code enforcement, public contracting and procurement, public finance, the Brown Act, the Fair Political Practices Act and the Public Records Act. He provides a broad range of counseling, regulatory, litigation and transactional services to locally owned and operated utilities including electric power generation, alternative, renewable and clean energy, power purchase agreements and transmission and interconnection agreements. Alan’s litigation experience includes federal and state trial court and appellate practice which includes police liability and civil rights litigation, dangerous condition and personal injury claims, inverse condemnation, land use, employment, breach of contract, unlawful detainer, tax, public finance, wrongful death lawsuits and writ/mandamus proceedings. In addition, his experience as a litigator provides him with a unique perspective on lawsuit avoidance and he frequently provides counseling, advice, and training to his public agency and law enforcement clients on litigation avoidance, including claims handling and investigation, police policy development and training and sidewalk liability.

Anna G. Barker

Anna (“Annie”) Barker is an associate in Burke’s Los Angeles office and a member of Burke’s Labor and Employment practice group. Annie earned her J.D. from UC Irvine School of Law with Pro Bono High Honors. During her summers, she interned with the Children’s Law Center of California and the University of California Office of the President (UC Legal). In Fall 2022, Annie externed full time with the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights, Educational Opportunities Section in Washington D.C. During law school, Annie spent two years as a Certified Law Student representing domestic violence survivors in all stages of civil litigation through UCI’s Domestic Violence Clinic. She received the Faculty Award for her work in clinic. Prior to law school, Annie worked as a Student Affairs Officer at UCLA. She graduated magna cum laude from Loyola Marymount University with dual Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre Arts.

Solange Z. Fortenbach

Solange Fortenbach is an associate in Burke’s Public Law and Litigation practice groups. Solange earned her Bachelors at New York University where she double majored in Politics and Environmental Science. At NYU, Solange was on the Moot Court team and later interned in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Solange earned her J.D. from the University of California, Irvine School of Law. During her first semester at law school, Solange interned at the ACLU Southern California, working advocacy hotlines for incarcerated individuals living in OC jails. Furthermore, for three semesters, Solange co-led a letter writing program where students wrote and advocated for individuals living in Orange County (OC) jails. Solange focused her schooling on refining speech and writing skills. She was a quarter finalist in UCI’s Moot Court competition and received the Faculty Award in both Supreme Court Litigation and Trial Advocacy.

Caitlin R. Eliason

Pronouns: she, her, hers Caitlin Eliason is an associate in Burke’s San Francisco office. Caitlin focuses her practice on all areas of real estate, land use, and environmental law. Caitlin advises both private and public clients throughout the development process, including entitlements and administrative approvals, CEQA compliance, and compliance with state housing laws. Caitlin earned her J.D. from UC Law SF (formerly known as UC Hastings), where she studied Environmental Law. She graduated cum laude and is a member of the UC Law SF Honor Society. During law school, Caitlin earned CALI Awards for achieving the highest grade in her Environmental Law, Administrative Law, and Compliance & Risk Management courses. Caitlin also served as the Co-President of OUTLaw, UC Law SF’s LGBTQ+ student organization. While in law school, Caitlin worked as a summer associate for Burke. Prior to law school, Caitlin worked for several years as a litigation paralegal in various practice areas, working on cases from intake through every step of litigation. Caitlin earned a B.A. in Political Science from UC Riverside and an A.S. in Paralegal Studies from Riverside City College. Outside of the office, Caitlin enjoys playing video games, going to concerts, and spending time with her wife and their dog.

Maria Akopyan

As a dynamic member of Burke’s Litigation Practice Group, Maria Akopyan brings a wealth of experience and a diverse legal background to her role. Her practice involves representing business and public entities, such as cities, transportation carriers, and insurance companies in complex contractual and tort claims where she skillfully navigates the nuances of legal challenges with strategic acumen and a strong sense of justice. Maria’s career path, marked by significant achievements and continuous learning, reflects her unwavering commitment to excellence, ethical practice, and client advocacy. Born and raised in the sunny capital of Armenia, Yerevan, Maria embarked on her legal journey with honors, earning her Bachelor of Laws degree from Slavonic University in the top 10% of her class. Her academic pursuits then led her to Moscow, Russia where she graduated cum laude with a Master’s degree from the Diplomatic Academy furthering her studies in international relations and international law. Lastly, she excelled academically graduating cum laude with a Master's degree in Law from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Maria’s academic pursuits are complemented by an equally diverse professional background. She began her legal career at Ernst & Young in Moscow, contributing significantly to the legal advisory services. Her tenure at one of the Big Four firms equipped her with a deep understanding of corporate law and the intricacies of international legal practices. Maria’s move to the U.S. marked a significant step in her career, broadening her legal perspective and enhancing her practical expertise. Prior to joining Burke, she has been a part of established law firms in Los Angeles handling high-value litigation and intricate investigations. Her practice there encompassed construction defect, business/commercial law, including breach of contract, fraud and unfair competition, labor and employment disputes, civil rights, tort actions and more. In her current role at Burke, Maria is not only a legal practitioner but also a proactive problem-solver and strategic thinker. Her approach to litigation is comprehensive, involving active participation in all stages of a case from initial case assessment through resolution. This includes meticulous planning for written discovery, conducting and defending depositions, motion practice, engaging in mediations and arbitrations, and preparing for trial. Maria is multilingual, with fluency in Russian and Armenian, and basic proficiency in Spanish. She is a certified Notary Public in the State of California.

Lee Burdick

Lee Burdick provides legal representation for cities, counties and other public agencies as Assistant City Attorney, County Counsel, and special counsel. Lee currently serves as Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Rohnert Park and Pacifica. She previously has served as County Counsel for the County of Kings, Deputy County Counsel for the County of Madera, and Assistant City Attorney for many cities, including Clovis, Lemoore, Salinas, Greenfield, Parlier, and Firebaugh. Her practice includes advising city councils, boards of supervisors, and staff in all areas of municipal law issues, such as board governance, employment and personnel matters, CEQA, code enforcement, conflicts of interest laws, contract review, elections, Government Tort Claims Act, initiatives, referenda, land use and planning, workplace investigations, and open meeting laws. Lee’s other areas of specialty include various kinds of litigation and appellate advocacy. She is experienced in both state and federal trial and appellate courts, including written appearances in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Victor M. Ponto

Victor Ponto is a partner with Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP. He currently serves as the City Attorney for the city of California City. Victor has served as the Assistant General Counsel for the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, the Eastern Municipal Water District, Elsinore Municipal Water District, Hi-Desert Water District, and the Central Basin Municipal Water District. He also served as the City Attorney for the City of Cudahy, Adelanto, Assistant City Attorney for the City of Fontana, and Deputy City Attorney for the cities of El Monte, Cudahy, Huntington Park, and San Fernando. Victor also provides legal services to cities, school districts, municipal water agencies, and other government entities throughout Southern California. Victor’s practice involves city attorney and general counsel services. He frequently advises cities and other local governmental agencies on the Brown Act, the Political Reform Act and the Public Records Act. His practice is to ensure that the governing boards and councils he advises operate legally to effectively serve their communities. Representing both cities and special districts, Victor provides legal advice at public meetings, community/economic development projects and complex land use transactions. He also advises public clients on matters regarding Planning and Zoning law issues, the Subdivision Map Act and the California Environmental Quality Act.

Ephraim S. Margolin

Ephraim ("Eppi") Margolin is an associate in Burke’s Los Angeles office and a member of the Public Law practice group. Ephraim’s practice consists of providing general counsel services to various cities and public agencies, with a focus on land use matters. Prior to joining Burke, Ephraim served as Deputy City Attorney of the cities of Calabasas, Ojai, and Barstow at another firm focusing on public law. Ephraim also completed a one-year fellowship at a Central Coast firm which serves as the City Attorney for the City of Santa Cruz and as counsel for other public entities. While in law school, Ephraim worked for several federal and local agencies including the Oakland City Attorney’s Office, the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and completed an externship at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. He also served as the Publishing Editor of the Berkeley Journal of Entertainment & Sports Law. Ephraim graduated from Berkeley Law with a Juris Doctor, receiving an American Jurisprudence Award and a Prosser Prize for academic excellence. Ephraim graduated magna cum laude from University of California, Los Angeles, with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy.

Veronica Gray

Veronica began her legal career at a municipal law firm representing the City of Santa Cruz and other public agencies local to the South Bay and the Santa Cruz areas where she advised on First Amendment issues, drafted ordinances, resolutions, and agenda reports, and reviewed contracts. Veronica also handled Gun Violence Restraining Order hearings and Public Record Act requests. Veronica earned her J.D. from UC Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) with a concentration in Government Law in 2022. While in law school, Veronica was an executive editor on the UC Law Constitutional Quarterly Law Journal and received a CALI award for the highest grade in Constitutional Law I. Veronica joined the UC Law SF’s Legislation Clinic where she externed with State Senator Henry Stern. During the summers, Veronica interned at the San Francisco’s Department of Police Accountability and the Construction and Public Contracting team of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. In 2019, Veronica received her B.A. in Politics from UC Santa Cruz, where she focused on American elections and election policy.

Robert C. Chojnacki

Robert Chojnacki is a senior associate in Burke’s Eminent Domain and Litigation Practice Groups. He has represented clients in all aspects of litigation in California and federal courts. Robert has extensive experience advising and litigating on behalf of public entities throughout California in cases involving eminent domain, inverse condemnation, and land use. He also has experience defending clients in cases involving general liability, professional liability, personal injury, wrongful death, and aviation. Robert has been trial counsel in five eminent domain jury trials, and two professional liability jury trials. Robert is a graduate of U.C. San Diego, with honors in American History. He obtained his J.D. from the University of California San Francisco, Hastings College of the Law. Robert is admitted to practice in the state courts of California, Nevada, and Hawaii. He is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Eastern and Central Districts of California.

Viviano E. Aguilar

Viviano focuses his practice on employment litigation. He has successfully navigated a variety of litigation matters including employment, trade secret, ADA, and business cases. Viviano has extensive wage and hour class-action experience. He also represents employers before the various administrative law courts, such as the DLSE (“Labor Commissioner”), WCAB and OSHAB. Viviano is a black-belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a martial art he has practiced for the last 13 years.

Lisa N. Maxwell

Lisa Maxwell is a member of Burke’s Real Estate and Business Law practice and Public Law Practice, which allows her to combine and leverage her experience representing private clients with her experience representing public agencies. Lisa has extensive experience in real estate including, development, public/private partnerships, construction, asset management, purchase and sale, leasing, workouts, commercial contracts and common interest law. Lisa represents and advises private clients and public agencies on complex real estate transactional and leasing matters. She routinely negotiates and prepares transactional documents including, exclusive negotiation agreements, term sheets, disposition and development agreements, lease disposition and development agreements, purchase and sale agreements, leases (ground, retail, office and industrial), licenses, easements, telecommunication agreements, cost sharing agreements and covenants, conditions and restrictions, while also handling ancillary matters such as title review, due diligence and closings. Lisa regularly advises on Surplus Land Act issues. Prior to joining Burke, Lisa served as the Community Development Director for the City of Alameda, and as an Assistant City Attorney for the Cities of Alameda and Oakland. As Alameda’s Community Development Director, Lisa oversaw the continued development of Alameda Point, a former Naval Air Station, while also managing the City’s real estate leasing program, economic development division, public art program, affordable housing programs, and homelessness and social service programs. Lisa led the team that obtained grants from the State and the County of Alameda, which allowed for the construction of a transitional supportive housing community in Alameda. Lisa’s 30 years of legal experience have included serving as California general counsel for a public homebuilder, as well as in-house counsel for a real estate private equity firm. Lisa currently serves on the Board of Directors of Alameda Point Collaborative, a non-profit serving the unhoused.

Robin M. Pearson

Robin Pearson is an experienced trial lawyer who has effectively litigated cases involving a broad range of business and commercial matters. She has experience in contract disputes, unfair business practices, real estate, insurance, employment, professional liability, and construction disputes and creditors rights in federal bankruptcy. Robin has argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal and is also an accomplished negotiator with extensive mediation experience. Robin’s commercial litigation matters include Section 17200 matters alleging unfair business practices. She has represented lending institutions, corporate and individual clients in breach of contract actions. In addition, Robin has litigated cases involving trademark and trade secret issues relating to the use and ownership of proprietary inventions in diverse industries. She has also represented title insurance companies relating to coverage disputes, insurance, bad faith, escrow negligence and fraud. Robin’s real estate practice includes but is not limited to environmental impact review under the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Her past representations include breach of contract and fraud cases, commercial landlord-tenant disputes, restrictive covenant and easement litigation, and quiet title, nuisance, adverse possession, zoning, and land use matters. Robin’s construction litigation experience includes performance of construction contracts, defense of mechanic’s liens, stop notices, payment and performance bond claims, construction defect and insurance claims. She also has experience obtaining private right of ways and easements, sitting wireless antennas and towers, securing permits for construction projects and negotiating pole attachments. Finally, Robin has represented corporate and individual clients in race, gender, age, and disability discrimination cases.

Iudis “Dasha” Sominskaia

Dasha Sominskaia is an associate in Burke’s San Francisco office and a member of Burke’s Litigation and Public Law practice groups. Dasha’s areas of practice include public entity defense, general business litigation, and general counsel work for municipal and private clients. In addition, Dasha regularly takes on pro bono child custody cases through the Justice and Diversity Center’s pro bono program serving low-income clients. Before coming to Burke, Dasha worked as an associate for an established class action and complex litigation law firm in Oakland, litigating a wide range of complex class action cases, including defective products, financial fraud, securities, and sexual assault. Dasha’s background also includes working as a corporate paralegal at a top tier firm in the Pacific Northwest. Her insider knowledge about corporate practices offers a helpful perspective, and enables case teams to deploy unique litigation strategies as a result. Dasha graduated cum laude from Seattle University School of Law in 2021. While in law school, Dasha was a staff editor for the Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, and Innovation Law, received a CALI award for earning the highest grade in Torts, and was recognized by the Alpha Sigma Nu honor society for her achievement being in the top 4% of her class. During her 3L year, Dasha externed for Associate Chief Justice Charles W. Johnson at the Washington Supreme Court, which helped her develop an understanding of a judicial chambers’ inner workings and further enhanced her legal research and strategy skills. As a college student, Dasha engaged in community building and advocacy work. In 2015, Dasha was selected for the 36 under 36 award by the Jewish Week in recognition of her outstanding advocacy for LGBTQ+ people within the Orthodox Jewish community, including at Yeshiva University, where she received her undergraduate degree in psychology and creative writing. Her participation in the art activism project “Jews of New York” was recognized by the Boston Globe, Jerusalem Post, NY Daily News and other media outlets. Dasha is fluent in Russian and proficient in Hebrew.

Elise L. Bonine

Elise Bonine is an associate in Burke’s Public Law and Litigation groups. She has experience in both criminal and civil litigation, as well as in both federal and state courts. Elise’s experience includes mass tort, class action, commercial litigation and criminal prosecution. Prior to joining Burke, Elise gained experience at a well-known and respected plaintiff-side firm in the Bay area as well as at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. During her tenure as an Assistant District Attorney, Elise specialized in prosecuting domestic violence offenses. She successfully indicted more than a dozen felony cases, negotiated felony and misdemeanor plea agreements, argued in front of the Appellate Division, conducted hundreds of investigations, and litigated almost five hundred cases to resolution. While attending Columbia Law School, Elise worked at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals prosecuting individuals who committed war crimes during the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. She also assisted asylum seekers through her externship with the Legal Aid Society as well as volunteer work with the International Refugee Assistance Project. As a member of the Advanced Mediation Clinic, she mediated a wide variety of issues ranging from alleged violations of the Equal Employment Opportunities Act to housing conflicts. She conducted trainings for the United Nations, Judicial Ethics Committee, and for new mediators. Outside of the office, Elise is passionate about animal rescue and enjoys running with her Australian Shepherd, reading science fiction novels, and solo travel.

Colleen L. Cleary

Colleen L. Cleary is a senior associate and a member of Burke, Williams & Sorensen’s Real Estate and Business and Litigation practice groups. Colleen is an accomplished litigator, who specializes in large, complex cases. Her practice involves handling all aspects of litigation from initial investigations and discovery through motion practice, settlement, trial preparation, and trial. Her experience includes successfully representing health benefit plans, retailers, and private individuals. Colleen earned a dual J.D./M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco. While in law school, Colleen was winner of the Best Oral Advocate Award in the school’s annual moot court competition. She was also a member of the National Moot Court Competition team and the University of San Francisco’s Law Review. Colleen graduated with Business Honors. During law school, Colleen worked at the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. Colleen also attended the University of San Francisco as an undergraduate, where she graduated cum laude with a B.A. in English Literature and double minors in Philosophy and Legal Studies. Colleen was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® under Ones To Watch for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs (2021-2023) and in Northern California Best Lawyers under Ones To Watch for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs (2021-2023). Northern California Super Lawyers Magazine named Colleen a Rising Star in 2021-2023. She was also included in San Francisco Magazine’s Top Women Attorneys in Northern California in 2021.

Tyler K. Marsten

Tyler Marsten is an associate in Burke’s San Jose office. Tyler earned both his J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Santa Clara Law School and Business School in 2022, and his B.A. in Political Science from the University of San Diego in 2018. During law school, Tyler interned at both a Family Law firm and a software company. He also worked at a sports agency that represents women professional soccer players. Tyler was also an active member in the Sports and Entertainment Law Society (SELS). Following law school, Tyler worked as an associate at a Workers’ Compensation defense firm based out of Oakland for a year before switching over to Burke’s litigation practice. A Bay Area native, Tyler currently lives in San Francisco and enjoys exploring the city with his dog, Riley. Tyler is a fan of the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers, and San Francisco Giants. In his free time, Tyler snowboards, surfs, hikes, and attends live music events.

Andrew R. Bogard

Andrew Bogard is an associate attorney who works with clients in the construction industry, which includes general contractors, developers, and subcontractors throughout California. Andrew also has experience in construction defect, personal injury, real property, and workers’ compensation. Andrew graduated cum laude from Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law in Malibu, California. Andrew additionally received a Certificate in Dispute Resolution from the Pepperdine Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution, and was also awarded a CALI Award for Academic Excellence in Remedies. During law school, Andrew served as a staff member on the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary (NAALJ) and was a member of the Federalist Society and the Sports and Entertainment Law Society. Prior to attending law school, Andrew graduated from Texas Christian University (TCU) with a double major in Finance and Business Information Systems. Upon graduating from TCU, Andrew worked as a Consulting Analyst for Cerner, a global healthcare information technology provider. In his free time Andrew enjoys reading, watching and playing sports, and being outdoors with his Border Collie, Ivy.

Kevin P. McCarthy

General contractors, developers and subcontractors in California turn to Kevin McCarthy for his knowledgeable legal counsel on corporate/construction risk management, asset protection, contract negotiation and construction defect litigation matters. Kevin skillfully helps those in the construction industry that are responsible for building the region’s office towers, residential developments and retail centers proactively mitigate liability and risk. When conflicts do arise, he advises clients on applicable insurance coverage in relation to disputes, which have a significant focus on construction failure, resultant property damage, diminution in value, and related claims. Kevin is an experienced litigator handling jury trials, bench trials, arbitrations, and multi-party mediation and dispute resolution on behalf of both defendants and plaintiffs. With a track record of litigation success and a commitment to economic, responsive and efficient client service, Kevin offers clients the valuable legal counsel they need to get the job done.

Craig A. Kisylia

Craig Kisylia works with owners, civil, commercial, and residential contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers in the construction and real estate industries to solve their most complex legal challenges. Craig counsels clients on risk management, contract negotiations and construction claims and disputes including payments, delay and disruption, and construction defects. He is experienced in and manages all phases of litigation, including legal research, discovery, motion practice, and dispute resolution proceedings. During law school, Craig was the External Vice President of the Santa Clara University Law and Business Society and served as Chairman of the Advocacy Committee for the Honors Moot Court Internal Competition.

Bryce D. Carroll

As a construction litigation attorney, Bryce Carroll works with the firm’s clients to develop creative litigation strategies to address their legal challenges in an economic and expeditious manner resulting in the best possible outcome for their business. General contractors, subcontractors, developers and owners turn to him for his experience navigating all aspects of construction litigation including claims for contract disputes, delay claims, insurance coverage, defective construction, toxic mold and personal injury. In addition to litigation matters, Bryce advises and counsels his clients in all phases of the construction process from bid preparation, contract negotiation and pre-claim issues. Bryce uses his understanding of the nuances of construction law, creative problem solving and collaboration to ensure his clients find resolutions that benefit their business in the short and long term. Throughout his twenty plus years of construction law practice, Bryce has worked for some of the region’s most notable owners, contractors and subcontractors to obtain successful resolutions to their most important business issues. On behalf of an owner, he recovered more than $5 million in damages and attorney’s fees following a four-week jury trial and indemnity involving the construction of underground utilities at four residential subdivisions in the California Central Valley. He also represented a Fortune 100 homebuilder in recovering excess of $10 million from subcontractor for warranty and repair work due to defective construction.

Danielle E. Potestio

Danielle works with clients in the firm’s construction, litigation, and real estate and business groups. She provides legal counseling in a variety of areas, including in-depth contract review, legal research and fact analysis, drafting and responding to discovery requests, motion drafting, and claims investigations. During law school, Danielle worked as a full-time corporate paralegal while simultaneously attending night school at the University of San Francisco (USF). In her last years of law school, she competed in the National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC) and received one of the highest honors from USF, the McFetridge Award for Excellence in Trial Advocacy. Additionally, she has dedicated her time to nonprofit organizations such as the USF Pro Bono Legal and Referral Aid Clinic, USF Racial Justice Clinic, and San Francisco’s Innocence Commission.

Lyndon Y. Chee

Lyndon Chee has over 20 years’ experience advising and litigating on behalf of public entities and a variety of private clients. After being admitted to the State Bar of California, Lyndon joined the Construction Team of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office where he represented the City, San Francisco Unified School District and the Community College of San Francisco, in many areas of public contracting, including negotiating and drafting professional services contracts, overseeing the competitive bidding of construction contracts, responding to bid protests, advising department heads and project managers on public contracting and construction related issues, drafting enabling ordinances, and litigating construction disputes. Lyndon’s construction litigation experience also includes developing and executing pretrial strategy in multi-million dollar construction litigation arising from performance and payment bonds issued by surety clients, and in indemnity actions against bond principals. On behalf of surety clients in contractor default situations, Lyndon has negotiated completion conditions, drafted necessary documents, including takeover agreements, assignments, and subcontracts, provided legal support to surety and its technical experts during completion, and oversaw preparation and presentation of claims. Lyndon received his Bachelor of Arts in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of California, Berkeley (Go Bears!) in 1987 and his Juris Doctorate from the University of San Francisco in 1995. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1995 and is admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the Norther, Eastern, and Central Districts of California.

Christopher E. Brumfiel

Christopher Brumfiel represents clients in a variety of industries including transportation, construction, property management, restaurant & hospitality, youth sports, and complex insurance/indemnity matters. He has extensive experience defending clients in high-exposure trials in federal and state courts as well as binding arbitrations. Chris routinely advises clients on risk management strategies and cost-effective litigation management.

Michelle H. Le

Michelle H. Le has a wide range of experience in business, employment, and insurance litigation in both state and federal courts. Her practice concentrates on single-plaintiff lawsuits and class action matters involving discrimination, wrongful termination, wage-and-hour, retaliation, misclassification, sexual harassment, and Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claims, among others. Michelle attended the University of California, Los Angeles for both her undergraduate and law school education. During law school, she earned the UCLA School of Law Faculty Scholarship Award and the UCLA School of Law Graduate Opportunity Fellowship. Michelle worked as an extern for the Honorable Margaret M. Morrow of the United States District Court, Central District Court of California. She served as Managing Editor of the Asian Pacific American Law Journal and President of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association. After law school, Michelle was awarded an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellowship. Before joining Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, Michelle handled an extensive variety of matters on behalf of national and regional business entities, insurance companies, and individual clients. Earlier in her legal career, Michelle gained a diverse background of experience in plaintiff-side civil rights and employment law matters involving police misconduct, discrimination, wrongful termination, wage-and-hour disputes, sexual harassment, and complex litigation class actions, among other issues. She has worked with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, private sector law firms, and other public sector entities. As Michelle’s legal career became focused on defense litigation, her prior experience still informed her defense work, enabled her to provide dedicated and tailored advocacy, and helped her to achieve the best possible results for her clients. Michelle has succeeded on dispositive motions, achieved case dismissals, and regularly negotiates favorable settlements.

Elaine Kobylecki

Elaine Kobylecki is a Senior Associate with the San Diego office of Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP and a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group. Elaine represents clients in all stages of litigation in both state and federal courts. With a decade of defense litigation experience, Elaine is experienced in commercial litigation, having counseled clients across numerous industries, including retail, consumer goods, construction, transportation and logistics, government contracting, and professional services, in a variety of matters including products liability, breach of contract, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and risk management. Elaine is attuned to our clients' needs as she navigates them through the challenges of each phase of the litigation cycle. She is committed to achieving the most favorable outcome on behalf of clients from both a legal and practical business perspective. Her broad-based litigation experience has enabled Elaine to be adept in handling a variety of discovery disputes. She has extensive deposition experience, having taken and defended over a hundred depositions as lead counsel, including plaintiffs, experts, treating physicians, and third-party witnesses. Elaine also has substantial experience in alternative dispute resolution, having represented clients at mediations, mandatory settlement conferences, and early neutral evaluations. Outside of the office, Elaine enjoys traveling, snowboarding and tennis.

Allison B. Hernandez

Allison Hernandez is a senior associate in the Labor and Employment Practice Group, and a member of Burke's Workplace Investigations team. Allison works with private and public entities, including school districts, community colleges, and county offices of education, with an emphasis in personnel and labor relations. Allison advises and represents clients with regard to employee discipline including termination proceedings, layoffs, collective bargaining, medical leaves of absence, and disability accommodations. She also represents clients before the Equal Opportunity Commission, California Civil Rights Department (formerly known as the "Department of Fair Employment and Housing"), California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and California Public Employment Relations Board. Allison has received certification through ATIXA as a participant in Level 1 and Level 3 ATIXA Civil Rights Investigator Trainings and regularly conducts impartial workplace investigations related to claims of sexual harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, and various other complaints. Allison also has experience in providing employers with litigation solutions, and has defended employers in pre-litigation, arbitration and all phases of litigation against claims for discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation and whistleblower claims. She is skilled in taking and defending depositions, drafting successful dispositive motions, and participating in all phases of mediation.

Ghazaleh Modarresi

Pronouns: she, her, hers Ghazaleh Modarresi is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group, and a member of Burke’s Workplace Investigations team. Ghazaleh provides employers advice and counsel on day-to-day labor and employment-related issues. She works closely with her clients to develop appropriate strategies to avoid litigation and minimize potential exposure in the area of employee relations and helps clients identify and avoid employment-related problems before they occur. Ghazaleh provides practical advice and counsel on wage-and-hour issues, leaves of absence, accommodation of disabilities, preparation and implementation of employment policies, advice on employee hiring, discipline and separations, and managing and/or conducting workplace investigations and trainings. Prior to joining Burke, Ghazaleh worked at two well-respected Silicon Valley law firms, including an AmLaw 100 firm, where she exclusively represented businesses and management in all facets of California labor and employment law. Ghazaleh has defended employers in state and federal courts, arbitration, and before administrative agencies. She has litigated cases involving employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, disability and other leave-related claims, wage-and-hour class actions and PAGA claims, unfair business practices, whistleblower claims, and wrongful discharge. Ghazaleh is a former adjunct clinical professor of the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she taught a course in the school’s Employment Law Clinic. She is called upon regularly as a speaker for conferences, seminars, and trainings addressing employment law issues and developments. During law school, she was a judicial extern for Senior United States District Judge Susan Illston. Beyond her regular legal practice, Ghazaleh serves as a member of the Board of Directors of JW House, a non-profit organization that helps keep families together during times of medical crisis.

Mariam Sleiman

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Timothy E. Campen

Timothy E. Campen is the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Bellflower and the City of Monterey Park and Deputy City Attorney for the cities of Coronado, Solana Beach, and Lemon Grove. Tim focuses on code enforcement; tort, contract and employment litigation; land use and planning; and general municipal advisory responsibilities. Tim began the first seven years of his legal career at the San Diego City Attorney’s Office. His responsibilities included defending the City in general tort and complex public works litigation; working with the City’s redevelopment agencies; and advising the City on Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. Additionally, he served as Head Deputy City Attorney for the City’s nationally recognized Domestic Violence Prosecution Unit. Following his tenure with the City, Tim spent five years as a felony prosecutor with the San Diego District Attorney’s office. There he concentrated on family protection; major narcotics offenders; and internet crimes against children. After 12 years of public service, Tim entered private practice focusing primarily on civil litigation, including defending businesses and individuals in tort, contract and employment claims as well as representing plaintiffs in class action, employment, and consumer matters. Over the years, Tim has taken over 100 jury trials to verdict. In addition to his vast experience with litigation matters, Tim served as faculty with the Family Justice Center Alliance. In that capacity, he travelled throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and the Middle East, presenting trainings and working with civic leaders, judges, law enforcement, and advocates towards development of innovative coordinated community responses to family violence. Tim and his wife have found themselves outnumbered with three lovely children. In his free time, Tim sings and plays guitar in a rock ‘n roll band

Karl H. Berger

Karl Berger's nearly 30 years of practicing law are exclusively devoted to representing public agencies. He is the City Attorney for the City of Bellflower; the City Attorney for the City of Monterey Park; and General Counsel for the Carpinteria Sanitary District. Additionally, Karl is the Senior Assistant City Attorney for Simi Valley; Assistant City Attorney for the City of Santa Clarita; and provides regular legal services for the cities of Brentwood and Carmel-by-the-Sea. Karl previously served as the City Attorney for Santa Paula; Interim City Attorney for Atascadero; Acting City Attorney for the City of Port Hueneme; Deputy City Attorney for the City of Port Hueneme; Assistant City Attorney for the cities of El Segundo and Camarillo; Assistant City Attorney for the City of San Buenaventura; and research attorney for the City of El Cajon. He previously served as General Counsel for the Montecito Sanitary District and Lamont Public Utility District. In addition to these appointed public official positions, Karl provides special counsel services to dozens of public agencies. Karl is knowledgeable in a wide range of public law areas, including conflicts of interest, open meeting laws, public works contracts, redevelopment and successor agencies, personnel matters, all aspects of land use and planning laws, and CEQA. Karl currently serves as a member of the Legal Advocacy Executive Committee. He previously served on the Housing, Community & Economic Development Policy Committee with the League of California Cities. Karl is also a contributing author for the Municipal Law Handbook (League of California Cities) and author for the Charter City Project (Institute for Local Government).

Vanessa M. Hooker

Vanessa Hooker is a senior associate in Burke’s Los Angeles office and a member of the Labor & Employment and Litigation practice groups, where she represents employers, including public entities, municipalities, educational institutions, and corporations in various labor and employment litigation matters. Vanessa’s experience includes successfully defending the nation’s largest employers, including multinational entertainment conglomerates, retail giants, and major insurance providers in a wide range of tort, employment, and commercial litigation matters in federal and state court. Vanessa prides herself on fiercely defending her clients while seeking the best possible outcome for them throughout all stages of litigation, including pleadings, discovery, motion practice, trial preparation, and case resolution. While Vanessa is a fierce litigator, who has successfully drafted and argued dispositive and pretrial motions, she is also a skilled negotiator, who has effectively negotiated the resolution of countless cases before trial. While attending law school, Vanessa participated in the Moot Court Honors Program, and served as Vice President of her school’s Black Law Students Association chapter. Vanessa also worked in legal aid and served as law clerk for the Federal Defender Program for the Northern District of Illinois. During her last year of law school, Vanessa was invited to study at UCLA School of Law. She had the honor of serving as Judicial Extern for the Honorable Dean D. Pregerson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Eileen L. Ollivier

Eileen is an associate in Burke’s Los Angeles office where she practices public law. Eileen represents and advises cities and other public agencies on a variety of municipal law and constitutional law matters. She has experience prosecuting and defending cases on behalf of public entities in areas of law, including, code enforcement, criminal nuisance activity, inverse condemnation, constitutional law and civil rights litigation, and premises liability. Eileen serves as counsel for the City of San Marino Design Review Commission. She regularly advises cities and public agencies on the Brown Act and the California Public Records Act and revises and drafts ordinances. Eileen earned her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law with a concentration in government law, and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. In law school, Eileen interned at the San Francisco City Attorney’s office and the ACLU of Northern California, and externed for San Francisco Superior Court Judge Andrew Y.S. Cheng in the Complex Litigation Department. Prior to becoming an attorney, Eileen was a community organizer for a direct services non-profit, where she advocated and lobbied for legislative reform surrounding racial justice and economic empowerment.

Justin A. Tamayo

Justin Tamayo is an associate in Burke’s Los Angeles office and a member of the Public Law and Eminent Domain practice groups. Justin’s practice consists of providing general counsel services to various cities and assisting in public entity representation on complex eminent domain and inverse condemnation matters. Prior to joining Burke, Justin served various communities in southern California as a city planner. He has extensive experience in land use entitlements, administration and management of general plans and municipal codes, compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, and public hearings. Justin earned his J.D. from the University of La Verne College of Law where he was the Vice-President of the Student Bar Association and a Certified Law-Clerk in the College of Law’s Misdemeanor Appellate Clinic. During law school, Justin obtained licensure from the California Department of Real Estate and clerked for a construction law firm where he gained valuable experience in litigation and real property law. Justin graduated with a B.S. in Urban and Regional Planning from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Connor T. MacLean

Connor MacLean focuses his practice on all areas of real estate, land use, and eminent domain issues. Connor advises dozens of cities and public agencies, as well as private landowners and developers, in all phases of the development process, including property acquisition, entitlement and administrative approvals, CEQA compliance, compliance with state housing laws, and negotiating real estate transactions and disputes. Connor has particular experience with the State Density Bonus Law, the Housing Accountability Act, the Housing Crisis Act, ADU law, and Housing Element Law. He has negotiated and drafted development agreements, purchase and sale agreements, and below-marked-rate rental and for-sale programs. Connor is also experienced in performing property diligence and assisting technical experts in preparing Draft and Final EIRs. In his work with private clients, Connor has helped advance all manner of projects, including high-density residential projects, multi-phased mixed-use projects, shopping centers, industrial warehouse development, resorts, and assisted living centers. In his work with public clients, Connor has experience advising cities on general plan updates, zoning code enforcement, issuance and revocation of conditional use permits, Housing Element updates, and tenant protection programs, the use of eminent domain for innovative house developments. Connor graduated from New York University School of Law, where he was a member of the Moot Court and an editor of Moot Court's annual Casebook.

Jean M. Kim

Jean Kim is an associate in Burke’s Intellectual Property, Litigation, and Construction Law practice groups. Jean’s practice involves all aspects of intellectual property litigation, including trademark, patent, and copyright disputes. In addition, Jean has handled trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings, patent and trademark prosecution, and domain name disputes. Jean's practice also involves representing public agencies in construction matters, including strategizing and drafting construction documents, advising clients during the course of construction, claims review and analysis, and claims resolution, including mediation, arbitration, and litigation. Jean is licensed to practice in California and before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. During law school, she served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Consuelo Marshall in the Central District of California.

Karen A. Lee

Karen Lee is an associate in Burke’s Los Angeles office and a member of Burke’s Litigation practice group. Karen’s areas of practice include public entity defense, premises liability, dangerous condition of public property, and general tort litigation. Prior to joining Burke, Karen worked at an established medical malpractice defense firm, where she represented a prominent university in a multitude of lawsuits involving Title IX claims, regulatory issues, and intentional tort allegations. Karen also served as second-chair trial counsel in a case of alleged medical malpractice, in which the jury rendered a unanimous defense verdict. Karen is experienced in cases involving large teams of lawyers, including high-value litigation combined with internal and government investigations. Karen has experience in all phases of civil litigation, including motion practice, appearing in court for oral argument, all aspects of discovery, and preparing for trial. Karen has worked in a variety of different practice areas, including family law, immigration, workers’ compensation, and business litigation. During law school, Karen was a staff member of the Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review. Karen was a part of the Law Review’s Inter-American Court of Human Rights Project, where she created comprehensive summaries of judgments rendered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Karen also volunteered as an advisor for the Dorsey High School Teen Court and as a mentor for the Young Lawyers Program. Karen graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Art History and a minor in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine.

Danica J. Brustkern

Pronouns: she, her, hers Danica Brustkern is an associate in Burke’s Litigation Practice Group. She attended the University of San Diego School of Law, where she graduated cum laude. During her time in law school, Danica earned recognition for providing pro bono legal service and achieving the highest grade in her Products Liability course, among others, as well as an externship for the Honorable Judge William V. Gallo. She was further honored by American Bar Association the when she won first place in the 2015 writing competition hosted by the Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law for her work, With Great Power Comes Great Culpability: Addressing Agency Costs in Durable Powers of Attorney. Prior to joining Burke, Danica worked as an associate for an established San Diego law firm where she represented both public and private entities in a range of matters, including wrongful death, regulatory violations, premises liability, and products liability, through every step of litigation. She also provided counseling with respect to estate planning as well as strategic business planning. Danica is passionate about providing clients with unique strategies for resolving disputes that align with their particular goals and values. When not in the office, Danica enjoys snowboarding, seeking out live music, and spending time with her friends and family.

Caylin W. Jones

Caylin Jones is an associate in Burke’s Los Angeles office. While in law school, Caylin served as a staff member on the Journal of International Law where her article, “Saying I Don’t to Child Marriage,” was chosen for publication. She also worked as a research assistant in evidence law assisting in bringing the eighth edition of Norman Garland’s “Criminal Evidence” textbook up to date. Caylin received the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence in Civil Procedure and Contracts and the CALI “Excellence for Future” Award for Constitutional Criminal Procedure and Evidence. She also spent a summer working as a law clerk in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Jasper L. Hall

Jasper Hall is an associate in Burke’s Oakland office where his practice focuses on constitutional law, civil rights and tort liability matters. Jasper earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. While there, he worked as a research assistant in the Psychology department focusing on psycholinguistics research. Prior to attending Santa Clara School of Law, Jasper worked in tech, on a political campaign, for state government, and in public affairs. At Santa Clara, Jasper was a finalist in the 1L Galloway Moot Court Competition, Semi-Finalist and winner of second best brief in the 2L Honors Moot Court Internal Competition, and a member of the Honors Moot Court Internal Board Problem Committee for the 2021 competition. Additionally, Jasper was a member of the ACLU and participated in the Immigration Appellate Clinic on campus. He also clerked for a number of judges in the Santa Clara County Family Court. Prior to joining Burke, Jasper worked for an insurance defense firm specializing in personal injury, construction defect, habitability and contract matters. In his free time, Jasper enjoys hiking and rock climbing throughout California and reading the newspaper while watching Premier League Soccer.

Brenda Aguilar-Guerrero

Brenda Aguilar-Guerrero has represented public entities on complex eminent domain and inverse condemnation matters for more than 25 years. She has assisted clients with large, complex multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects requiring hundreds of acquisitions, as well as smaller scale projects throughout the state for a variety of clients. Brenda likes to get involved at the initiation of a project to ensure that her clients are following all state and federal regulations and laws. She attends project meetings, obtains rights of entry, drafts and/or reviews acquisition documents, works with consultants/clients to execute acquisition strategies, reviews appraisals for legal compliance, and negotiates with property owners; assists in drafting staff reports, resolutions of necessity and notices to property owners; prepares complaints and all documents required to file the condemnation action(s); obtains orders for prejudgment possession; and handles all litigation through the filing and recording of Final Orders of Condemnation. Brenda has served as lead counsel on right-to-take and jury trials for a number of clients. She has also defended clients sued for inverse condemnation, dangerous condition of public property, and nuisance claims. She has handled eminent domain and/or inverse condemnation actions for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, Council of San Benito County Governments, Bay Area Rapid Transit District, San Mateo County Transit District, Transportation Agency of Monterey County, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, Central Contra Costa Sanitation District, County of Calaveras, County of El Dorado, County of San Benito, County of Yolo, Town of Los Altos, City of Dublin, City of Inglewood, City of Sacramento, City of San Leandro, City of Morgan Hill, City of Palmdale, City of Rancho Cordova, City of South San Francisco, East Bay Regional Park District, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Glendale Housing Authority, Fremont Redevelopment Agency, City of Fremont, City of Elk Grove, County of Fresno, County of Napa, Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, City of Brentwood, Hayward Unified School District, City of Antioch, and City of Saratoga.

Krishan S. Chopra

Krishan Chopra is a seasoned general practitioner with more than 20 years of experience representing public agencies in California. Krishan began his career in private practice in Southern California representing cities, schools districts, and special districts, then transitioned to Northern California where he worked as a Deputy County Counsel for the County of Napa. Most recently, Krishan served as the City Attorney for the City of Mountain View after serving the City as both an Assistant then Senior Assistant City Attorney. Krishan’s practice specialties include land use and planning, environmental compliance (CEQA), governmental ethics and conflict of interest, public contracting and construction, initiative and referenda, Brown Act and open meeting compliance, and public records production. He brings many years of experience working as legal counsel to City Councils, Planning Commissions, and various advisory bodies, as well as working collaboratively with public agency staffs, focusing on providing practical solutions and the efficient delivery of legal services. Krishan graduated from Loyola Law School in 1997, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Classical Studies cum laude, from Colgate University in 1991.

Donald V. Le

Pronouns: he, him, his Donald Le is an associate attorney in Burke’s Los Angeles office and is a member of the Labor & Employment, Labor Relations, and Education Law practice groups where he represents employers, including public agencies, municipalities, private schools, special districts, community college districts, K-12 schools, and private entities, in various labor, employment and education matters. Donald’s employment experience includes advising and representing employers on issues relating to discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, disability accommodation and interactive process, leaves and benefits, pre-employment and privacy issues including drug and alcohol testing, HIPAA/CMIA, free expression, employee discipline and due process, workplace investigations, and performance management. Donald’s experience also includes advising public safety clients on the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act and has worked on high-profile civil litigation cases regarding excessive force issues. Donald advises and represents employers in navigating meet and confer obligations under the MMBA and EERA, and works exclusively on transactional matters. Donald also represents clients at the bargaining table, negotiating bargaining agreements and matters such as compensation, hours and scheduling, seniority and advancement, and other terms and conditions of employment. Donald also advises on best practices for updating existing MOU language, bargaining strategy, compliance with good-faith bargaining requirements, and closed session preparations. Donald also has specialized knowledge under the ACA, including the employer shared responsibility provisions and advises public agencies on their obligations. Donald’s practice also includes conducting workplace investigations, including employee misconduct, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, policy, conduct violations, and other discipline-related issues. Donald has conducted investigations into allegations of harassment, retaliation, and misconduct, including those of a sensitive nature and those concerning high-profile individuals. Donald regularly advises private schools, community college districts, and K-12 schools on matters such as harassment or discrimination claims, discipline and termination, independent contractor issues, employee performance management, disability accommodations, construction, preventative measures, and other student, faculty, and governance-related issues. He works extensively on contractual matters such as employment and enrollment agreements, vendor and facilities use contracts/disputes, services agreements, transportation agreements, travel waivers, releases, as well as employee and student handbooks. Donald also represents employers throughout the various stages of litigation in both state and federal courts, as well as DFEH/EEOC matters, administrative matters, writs of mandamus. His litigation practice includes all aspects of discovery, motion practice, and trial preparation, including deposition preparation and appearances, drafting demurrers and motions for summary judgment, and preparing pretrial motions and witnesses for trial.

Meghan E. Nihan

Meghan Nihan’s practice focuses on real estate transactional matters and public/private partnership development matters. She has experience with purchase, sale, easement, license, and lease transactions; government purchases of property in lieu of condemnation; ancillary matters such as title review and due diligence; and advising clients on property management landlord/tenant issues. Meghan was previously an associate in the Corporate and Real Estate practice groups of two Southern California law firms. She was also an associate in the Eminent Domain practice group of a law firm based in Orange County for five years, where she advised staff during the planning phase of a public transportation project, drafted and negotiated purchase and sale agreements, and handled all aspects of eminent domain litigation if a voluntary purchase transaction was not consummated. During law school, Meghan completed environmental coursework. Early in her career, she worked as a Legal Fellow at Orange County Coastkeeper, whose mission is to protect the region’s water resources. Meghan’s work there included bringing lawsuits to enforce the Clean Water Act and reviewing and drafting comments regarding local policies or Environmental Impact Reports.

Lisa W. Lee, AWI-CH

Lisa Lee is a partner at Burke, Williams & Sorenson, LLP with over 26 years of litigation experience and a strong background in constitutional law/civil rights litigation, tort litigation, contract litigation, employment litigation and criminal law. She is a trial lawyer who has successfully represented police officers, governmental entities, businesses and individuals in more than 90 jury trials throughout California. Lisa worked as a Deputy City Attorney with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office for six years representing Los Angeles Police Department officers, as well as the Los Angeles Police Department and City of Los Angeles, in a variety of police civil rights matters in both state and federal court. She successfully litigated and tried use of force matters, including officer involved shootings. Lisa spent nine years in general civil practice where she served as advisory counsel for small businesses, as well as successfully litigating tort, contract and employment litigation matters. Lisa also provided administrative, legal compliance and regulatory advice for business clients, including ordinance and municipal code matters. Lisa was a criminal prosecutor for nine years with the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney in Maui, Hawaii where she prosecuted sex crimes, homicides, and serious and violent felonies. She also investigated officer involved shootings and provided training for new prosecutors and law enforcement. Lisa is dedicated to providing her clients with zealous and cost-effective representation. She has routinely and successfully resolved many cases without the necessity for trial by utilizing assertive case strategies which drive down the settlement value of matters. Lisa has also obtained favorable results for her clients through pretrial motions, including motions for summary judgment. Lisa is an Association of Workplace Investigations Certificate Holder (AWI-CH).

Mark E. Wilson

Mark Wilson is a partner in Burke’s Labor and Employment Practice Group. Mark has provided representation at MOU grievances, multi-year contract negotiations, meet-and-confers, unfair labor practices, and disciplinary matters. Mark’s litigation experience includes labor arbitrations and civil litigation related to discrimination, whistleblower complaints, wage orders, FEHA/ADA complaints, and medical/family leave compliance, among others. He has represented clients in internal affairs investigations, external investigations, workplace investigations, criminal investigations, disciplinary actions, and appeals. Prior to joining Burke, Mark represented public sector unions. He also served as in-house counsel for a large trade association in Washington, DC and as a Legislative Advisor for a several members of the United States Senate.

Natalie F. Price

Natalie Price handles a wide range of cases for public and private entities and their employees, such as employment defense, civil rights, class action litigation, dangerous conditions of public property, wrongful death, personal injury, and general government tort liability matters in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Natalie has co-chaired numerous jury trials. In the past two years, Natalie has obtained three defense verdicts—two FEHA disability discrimination, retaliation, and failure to accommodate cases in state court and a Title VII race discrimination and retaliation case in federal court. Prior to joining Burke, she second-chaired a USERRA case to a unanimous defense verdict and second-chaired a fatal officer-involved shooting trial wherein the involved deputy avoided an award of punitive damages against him. Additionally, Natalie has prepared and successfully argued trial documents and motions in limine in numerous cases which settled shortly before trial. A skilled writer, Natalie has achieved excellent results on dispositive motions and pre-trial rulings. With regard to her appellate practice, Natalie has successfully briefed and argued employment discrimination and civil rights matters before the California Court of Appeal and obtained an order from the Ninth Circuit affirming summary judgment in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and FEHA discrimination and retaliation case. Natalie advises clients regarding potential exposure, complex and novel legal issues, litigation budgets, and strategies to avoid future litigation. Natalie employs cost-sensitive legal strategies to achieve favorable results for clients. While in law school, Natalie externed for the Honorable Larry A. Burns of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California and at the San Diego Public Defender’s Office. Natalie served as a member of the San Diego International Law Journal, as Student Bar Association Vice President, and was extensively involved in the Moot Court program, where she argued before judges of the Ninth and Second Circuits and won national and intramural awards for her brief writing and oral advocacy skills.

Robert F. Messinger

Robert Messinger practices in the areas of public agency real estate, land use, community and economic development, and general municipal law. He has represented a variety of municipalities, housing authorities, special purpose public agencies, and developers in a broad range of complex multi-party real estate transactions, land entitlement, Subdivision Map Act, and planning matters. Robert has extensive experience with real property transactions involving real property acquisition and disposition transactions, commercial leasing, ground leasing, options, easements, and licenses. Robert previously served for thirteen years with San Bernardino County Counsel, where he advised and represented the County’s Real Estate Services Department on all aspects of real property acquisition and disposition. Robert also has extensive experience assisting public agencies with airport matters, special purpose entity formation and governance, advising Local Agency Formation Commissions on reorganization matters, advising Countywide Oversight Boards in interpreting and implementing the redevelopment dissolution statutes, and the interpretation of and compliance with the Surplus Land Act. Robert is known for his commitment to helping his clients achieve their goals by providing pragmatic strategies and his ability to pursue a collaborative approach in order to achieve resolution. His commitment to delivering superior work product, exceeding client expectations through exceptional service, integrity, and results are the personal values that form Robert’s client relationships.

Rachel E. Balchum

Rachel Balchum is a senior associate in Burke’s Labor and Employment Law Practice Group. Rachel represents public and private employers and individuals in employment disputes, including in the areas of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and wage and hour. She provides preventative counseling regarding employment practices, including COVID-19 issues, as well. In addition, Rachel represents clients in trust and estate, financial elder abuse, and business litigation. During law school, Rachel served as a legal extern at the United Nations Development Programme in Guatemala.

Leila Moshref-Danesh

Leila is an accomplished environmental and land use attorney. With a background in local government, Leila is able to lend years of on-the-ground, real world experience to her clients navigating the ins and outs of local laws and regulations. Leila’s particular expertise is in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) with special focus on Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) – from consultant selection to document preparation and review, to AB 52 consultation, and all the way through certification and project approval. Leila also practices land use law, advising both private and public clients throughout the entitlement process, and has drafted a number of local ordinances Recently, Leila provided environmental and land use advice for two large-scale development projects, including a Southern California hospital expansion and multi-use office, residential, and retail development in Silicon Valley Leila is currently a member of the California Special Districts Association Legal Advisory Working Group, and chairs Burke’s Pro Bono/Civic Engagement Committee.

Mary Anne Wagner

Mary Wagner practices public law, with an emphasis on land use, housing, and real estate. Mary regularly advises public agencies on development projects, including negotiating development agreements and updating general plans, specific plans, and zoning codes. She represents numerous cities throughout the State on the updates to their Housing Elements. Prior to joining Burke, Mary served as the City Attorney for the City of Sausalito for 20 years. Mary is currently the General Counsel to the South San Francisco Housing Authority and Assistant City Attorney for Benicia. In representing cities, Mary brings her practical approach, legal expertise, and serves as an active member of the team. In Sausalito, she was part of a Management Academy that trained Sausalito and other Marin County jurisdiction employees the skills needed to move into management. Mary believes in proactive representation. She has presented on conflicts of interest and the Brown Act.

Kristen S. Steinke

Kristen Steinke is a Partner at Burke, Williams & Sorensen. Kristen currently serves as the City Attorney for the City of Lemon Grove. Kristen previously assisted the City of San Marcos, the City of San Diego, the City of National City, the City of Carlsbad and other public agencies as Special Counsel. Kristen’s practice centers on real property-related litigation, eminent domain, inverse condemnation, land use and municipal law. She represents public entities, land-owners, developers, businesses of all sizes, contractors, subcontractors and, others in a wide variety of development-related matters. Kristen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2001 and thereafter moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the U.S. Senate. In 2007 she earned her law degree from Whittier Law School and discovered an interest in municipal law, land use practice and civil litigation. Kristen is the immediate past President of the City Attorney’s Association of San Diego. She was the Chair of the Eminent Domain Section of the San Diego County Bar Association from 2013 to 2015 and again served as Chair between 2018 and 2021. She is a member of the State Bar of California and is the immediate past Chair of the Escondido Chamber of Commerce. Native to San Diego, Kristen enjoys golf, hiking and spending time with her husband and two young daughters.

Kate S. Im

Kate Im is a senior associate attorney in Burke’s Los Angeles office and is a member of the Labor & Employment, and Education Law practice groups. Kate represents and advises cities, school districts, and other public agencies on matters ranging from employee discipline, hiring, and layoffs, collective bargaining, discrimination/civil rights claims, and governance issues. Her practice includes related litigation matters such as civil suits, writs of mandamus, and administrative hearings. While attending the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, Kate interned with at the Lanterman Regional Center Special Education Law Clinic and the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles at their Keck/LA County Hospital location. Published Decisions Payan v. Los Angeles Community College District (9th Cir. 2021) ---F.4th---

Gena B. Burns

Pronouns: she, her, hers Gena Burns is a partner in Burke's Labor and Employment and Public Law Practice Groups. Gena provides municipal law services to public agencies throughout California. Gena’s practice includes providing advice to department heads and public agency officials, serving as lead labor negotiator for public entity negotiations, and advising and representing employers on discipline issues. She has drafted contracts, resolutions, ordinances, administrative policies, and employee handbooks. She regularly advises municipal clients on labor and employment matters, open meeting laws, and the California Public Records Act. She has represented clients in both state and federal court, as well as in administrative settings. She has successfully handled cases before the Public Employment Relations Board and the National Labor Relations Board. Gena enjoys delivering training on a variety of legal matters, including social media for public agencies and officials. Gena currently serves as Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Clemente and is counsel for several commissions. Gena graduated cum laude from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. While in law school, she was a member of the UC Hastings Business Law Journal and studied at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

Elizabeth A. Mitchell

Elizabeth Mitchell handles all legal issues confronted by local agencies and special districts from advice regarding board and legislative actions, administrative policy implementation, open meetings, election laws and effective government to claims avoidance, mitigation and processing, negotiations, advisory and transactional law, labor and employment law, water law, public contracts, insurance, liability issues, real estate, leases, easements and development agreements, low income housing projects, civil rights, regulatory compliance, code enforcement, public works, infrastructure and rate setting. Admitted to the California State Bar in 1999, Elizabeth utilizes her extensive background as a trial attorney in civil litigation and business transactions to help public agencies, municipalities, special districts, joint power authorities, non-profits and businesses avoid potential future legal problems before they arise. She has been focusing on public interest law since 2015, but also has a corporate and transactional practice. Before joining the firm, Elizabeth was a partner in the litigation department of one of San Diego’s premiere mid-size business defense firms. Her sophisticated trial practice included international and multi-district civil litigation in state and federal court, unfair competition and trade secret cases, intellectual property, creditors’ rights, environmental causes, large corporate bankruptcies and American with Disabilities Act claims, among others. She also has experience with all aspects of transactional and corporate advice, contracts, negotiations, compliance and strategic planning, leases, franchises, acquisitions and other complex corporate work. Elizabeth also spent time at a boutique plaintiff’s class action firm pursuing high profile public interest cases including privacy and constitutional rights, labor and employment law, health care and technology, false advertising and the Lanham Act. Before law school, she served as a legislative intern for the majority chairman of the House of Representative’s Education Committee. Elizabeth is now the City Attorney for the City of San Clemente, General Counsel for Vista Irrigation District, the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Solana Beach, the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Coronado, Assistant General Counsel for Clean Energy Alliance, and the Assistant General Counsel for SBCS Corporation, putting her diverse background to work for local government, special districts, non-profits and businesses throughout California.

Johanna N. Canlas

Johanna Canlas serves as City Attorney for the cities of Solana Beach and Coronado. She is General Counsel of the successor agencies to the Community Development Agency for the City of Coronado and the Solana Beach Redevelopment Agency. Johanna is the General Counsel to SBCS Corporation fka South Bay Community Services, a community-based nonprofit organization providing a comprehensive range of services for children, youth, and families in San Diego county. Johanna served as the General Counsel to Solana Energy Alliance (SEA), the first Community Choice Energy program in the San Diego region prior to its merger into Clean Energy Alliance (CEA). Johanna represents clients in all matters affecting public agency and non-profit governance, from day- to-day decision-making and operations to long-term policy implementation. These include land use, zoning and planning, environmental review and compliance, public contracting, labor and employment, real estate transactions, and intergovernmental relations. Johanna is active with CalCities (League of California Cities). She was an inaugural member of the City Attorney’s Department Emergency Response Committee. She also served as the San Diego County Division Representative to the Legal Advocacy Committee. She is a past president of the City Attorneys Association of San Diego. As a former prosecutor, Johanna has invaluable jury and court trial experience. She brings with her an inherent understanding of quality of life issues. She established programs working with stakeholders including law enforcement, businesses and resident groups to achieve practical and pragmatic solutions to community concerns. Johanna has proven an effective advocate for clients. She has represented them before regional boards, state permitting agencies, and federal regulatory bodies. She built relationships she can draw upon to facilitate open dialogue and reach common ground when available. While Johanna provides constructive and practical legal advice to her clients, she will zealously defend them when needed. She prioritizes her relationships with clients, many of which span more than a decade.

N. Richard Shreiba

Richard Shreiba is an Associate in Burke’s Orange County office where he provides advice and council to public and private entities on labor and employment matters. Richard is experienced in providing employers with practical solutions to every-day personnel related issues, as well as representing employers throughout the various stages of litigation in both state and federal courts. Richard’s experience includes assisting employers throughout the employee discipline process, preparing workplace policies and handbooks, preparing executive employment agreements, advising employers with leave related issues, guiding employers throughout the interactive process for workplace disability accommodations, and presenting workplace trainings. Richard has represented public entities at various different levels of government, and private entities that varied from small regional businesses to large national enterprises. During law school, Richard clerked for multiple public entities. Richard’s experience and passion for serving public and non-profit entities enables him to provide exceptional service and creative solutions for his clients. Richard’s first career as a manager in the financial services industry enables him to provide employers with practical strategies and creative alternatives to solving employment personnel issues while simultaneously complying with state and federal employment laws. During his free time, Richard loves to enjoy the outdoors and catching a baseball game whenever possible. He enjoys spending time at the beach, Angel stadium, and hiking state and national parks with his family.

Robert L. Theiring

Robert Theiring, who had lived most of his life in the greater Los Angeles area, found a new home in San Diego while serving in the United States Navy on board the USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) in 2010. Throughout the course of his formal higher education, he earned externships with three federal judges in the Southern District of California including, The Honorable Karen S. Crawford, The Honorable Anthony J. Battaglia, and The Honorable Bernard G. Skomal. Robert achieved repeated success in a series of honors, veteran and legal societies, and competitions to add experience to his established passion. Some of these achievements include gaining membership to the California Western Law Review as an Associate Editor (via his article being chosen for publication) and Executive Board Member for the Moot Court Honors Board. As a competitor on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Travel team, Robert achieved success in various competitions around the country including 2nd Place at the ABA Mediation Regional Competition held in New York. He gained invaluable skills and extensive training in order to best represent his clients as a result of these achievements. Following law school, Robert was honored to be admitted to the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and graduated in 2019 with an LL.M. in Alternative Dispute Resolution, and received the highest grade for Mediation Advocacy. Prior to joining Burke, Robert was an associate attorney for a highly regarded San Diego firm providing representation in the defense of automobile liability, subrogation, real estate litigation, construction defect litigation, premises liability, copyright infringement, and employment lawsuits at the state and federal level. Robert’s involvement in litigated matters included creating and executing written discovery plans, conducting and defending depositions, writing and arguing motions, successfully achieving favorable settlements through informal negotiations, and mediation advocacy, and all necessary components of trial and arbitration preparation. Additionally, Robert has experience in defending public entities in a variety of claims including premises liability, inverse condemnation, and personal injury. Specifically, Robert has represented various public entities throughout California defending inverse condemnation claims up to and including trial. Throughout his life, Robert has always sought to be a passionate advocate for those he represents and seeks to provide the same work ethic and drive that his father instilled in his own life to working tirelessly for the benefit of his clients and their well-being. Outside of Burke, Robert can be found spending time with his wife and two children, taking trips to Disneyland, playing any game (board, card, or video), or waving a Terrible Towel cheering on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Dhruva (Neel) Ghanshyam

Pronouns: he, him, his Neel Ghanshyam is a senior associate in Burke, Williams & Sorensen’s Orange County office. Neel has extensive experience representing public entities, including K-12 school districts, hospitals and law enforcement agencies, in matters pertaining to litigation, investigations, writ actions, employee discipline and employee relations. Prior to practicing law, Neel worked as a legal investigator for the U.S. Department of Labor, where he assisted in their ERISA compliance program and assisted in auditing employer and union retirement benefit and health benefit plans. Neel earned his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School. He served as the school’s Student Bar Association President in 2013-2014.

Charles H. Abbott

Pronouns: he, him, his Charles H. Abbott is an experienced civil litigator and trial lawyer. In his career, he has first or second chaired over ten jury trials. In his most recent trial, Charlie secured a defense verdict for a municipality and its police force in a catastrophic personal-injury action. He has secured dozens of pre-trial victories in claims of dangerous conditions of public property. He is also a thought leader in this area, making frequent presentations on recent appellate decisions to government lawyers and interest groups. Charlie is an effective appellate advocate. In 2021, he drafted and argued an appeal in Martinez v. City of Beverly Hills, which created a new standard for constructive notice under California law. While his practice focuses on public-entity defense, Charlie has extensive experience in complex civil litigation, class actions, employment, data breach, and insurance defense. He has represented large public businesses in the retail, food and beverage, entertainment, telecommunications, and entertainment industries in bet-the-company litigation and internal investigations. Charlie also has a proven track record of creating compliance programs and leading internal investigations. His compliance background provides context when Charlie advises his clients how to prevent future harm.

Michael R. Nebenzahl

Pronouns: he, him, his Michael R. Nebenzahl is a seasoned litigator with 40 trials to verdict and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). His practice focuses on the defense of high stakes personal injury litigation matters involving wrongful death, catastrophic injuries, emotional injuries and brain damage. Michael has built his practice over the last two decades handling cases for public entities such as cities, school districts, utility companies and transportation agencies. He defends claims of dangerous conditions of public property, claims of liability stemming from the wrongful conduct or negligent acts of employees, and claims in defense of employment-related matters. These defenses range from roadway design, to the protocols and practices for maintaining streets, sidewalks, and infrastructure, to urban forestry, as well as termination and/or discriminatory employment-related matters. While he knows that a bell can't be un-rung, Michael takes great pride in understanding how and why any incident occurred and spending much time, effort and analysis in providing advice to his clients on how to prevent future harm. One of Southern California's most experienced and well-regarded trial attorneys, Michael has been representing clients such as the City of Beverly Hills for over two decades, and his defense verdict for the Rose Bowl in a 2008 brain damage case resulted in being named to the Daily Journal's List of Top Ten Defense Verdicts.

Tamar M. Burke

Pronouns: she, her, hers Tamar Burke is an associate in the public law practice group. She advises public entity clients on all matters, including California Public Records Act and Brown Act compliance, code enforcement, eminent domain, and municipal governance issues. She regularly conducts ethics and AB 1234 trainings for the firm's public clients, and advises on similar ethics issues. Tamar has litigated Public Records Act and Brown Act claims, property maintenance issues, quiet title, and eminent domain. Her litigation practice includes drafting and managing discovery, drafting motions in limine and corresponding oppositions, writ practice, and otherwise preparing cases for trial or hearings. She has also reviewed and edited the CEB’s Municipal Law Handbook. Tamar earned her J.D. from UC Hastings and graduated cum laude with a concentration in government law. As a law student, Tamar interned with the Government team of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office where she worked on the City’s sanctuary city litigation and provided advice to various City commissions and departments. She also interned with the State of California’s Office of Legislative Counsel, drafting legislation regarding environmental, education, transportation, and energy law. As a member of the nationally ranked UC Hastings Moot Court Team, she competed in the Evans Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition. She was also selected to participate in the UC Hastings Appellate Project, and represented a client in proceedings before the Ninth Circuit. Before law school, Tamar received her B.A. in Political Science from UC Davis. Throughout her undergraduate studies, Tamar worked in and around government by interning in state legislators’ offices and working at a lobbying and consulting firm to further environmentally sound policies in California.

Eric S. Phillips

Pronouns: he, him, his Eric Phillips practices in the areas of land use, real estate, and CEQA compliance. Eric represents clients in all phases of the development process, including property acquisition, entitlement and administrative approvals, CEQA compliance, compliance with state housing laws, and negotiating real estate disputes. Eric has particular experience with State Density Bonus Law, the Housing Accountability Act, SB 35, and Housing Element Law. Eric assists private clients to successfully obtain subdivision maps, density bonuses, development agreements, and other land use approvals. He also has served as special counsel to numerous public agencies and provides advice on writing ordinances and legislative findings related to zoning, subdivisions, inclusionary housing programs, rent control and tenant protection measures, and impact fees. In both roles, Eric has worked with various clients to negotiate and close purchase and sale agreements, draft loan agreements, create below-market-rate rental and for-sale programs, perform property diligence, craft residential preference programs, and work with technical consultants to prepare Draft and Final EIRs.

Joanne Madden

Joanne Madden’s practice focuses on litigation involving commercial disputes, corporate governance, and employment matters. She represents companies involved in disputes concerning lease obligations, online service agreements, trade secrets, risk allocation between suppliers, and employment contracts. She also has extensive experience representing transportation and construction companies in general liability matters. Her clients include individuals, non- profits, small to mid-size businesses, as well as Fortune 500 companies. While primarily a litigator, she also advises clients on risk management in various settings. She has counseled individuals, corporations, and public entities concerning compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, California’s Unruh Act, Wage and Hour regulations, OSHA, Motor Carrier regulations, environmental regulations such as California’s Proposition 65, and consumer protection laws. Joanne also counsels a national product distributor on claim and litigation management. She appears in federal and state courts, arbitrations, administrative hearings as well as before special masters. Joanne serves as Judge Pro Tem for the San Francisco Superior Court, mediating landlord tenant disputes and sitting as a small claims judge.

Bernard Gehlhar

Pronouns: he, him, his Bernard Gehlhar focuses his practice on the representation of consumer product companies, defending them in products liability litigation, advising on regulatory and corporate issues, and assisting with contractual matters. Bernard also has extensive experience dealing with other types of products, including industrial products. Bernard works closely with clients to gain an understanding of their business model and objectives in order to provide practical guidance on day-to-day business decisions in the context of legal risk. In addition to his litigation and litigation management roles, Bernard is a trusted advisor to clients in various related areas, including product safety and regulatory compliance. He routinely assists clients with Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) compliance and reporting; product recalls, and in reviewing product manuals, safety warnings, labels, and other collateral materials. Bernard assists clients with negotiating and drafting contracts, including licensing and vendor agreements. Bernard also has significant experience counseling clients with respect to advertising and promotional activities, including sweepstakes and contests. Bernard has experience with a broad range of civil litigation matters, including class actions and other complex cases. In addition to products liability cases, Bernard has handled commercial disputes and defended professional liability matters on behalf of mortgage brokers, insurance agents and brokers, third-party administrators, investment advisors, securities broker-dealers and attorneys, among others. He also has litigated business torts and defended claims of breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and vicarious liability for the acts of employees and agents. Bernard handles cases in state and federal trial courts and in various arbitration forums and has extensive experience with appellate proceedings. He has drafted countless briefs and argued before the California Courts of Appeal and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in matters involving a range of substantive areas, including professional liability, products liability, general liability, business torts, and ERISA.

Patricia L. Peden

Pronouns: she, her, hers Patricia Peden is a seasoned trial attorney and member of Burke's Intellectual Property Practice Group. Her practice focuses on litigating patent infringement cases, trade secret litigation, and other complex commercial litigation. In addition to bringing to the table a deep knowledge of substantive legal doctrines, Patricia offers clients solid business judgment and an unwavering commitment to client service. Patricia understands cases are won by hard work, creative thinking and mastery of the law and facts. She litigates with an eye toward trial, allowing her to make cost-benefit judgment calls during discovery based on what is truly needed for a successful result. Patricia maximizes early case planning to ensure litigation costs are proportional to case value. And she understands the importance of teamwork and communication. She strives to provide her clients with clear, concrete solutions to complex legal problems. Patricia has extensive federal court experience. She clerked for two federal judges, the Honorable David Folsom in the Eastern District of Texas and the Honorable Richard C. Tallman at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has litigated disputes ranging from large, complex cases with multi-million-dollar damage claims to smaller suits between private parties. Her patent infringement cases have involved a wide range of technologies, including cellular telephony, recombinant human erythropoietin, LED technology, Wi-Fi, various chipsets, software and business methods, to name a few. She has litigated non-compete agreements and trade secret disputes. She has substantial experience litigating cases in the Eastern District of Texas, the Northern District of California, and other magnet venues for intellectual property disputes. Patricia has considerable experience with complex commercial cases involving trade secrets and non-compete agreements, copyright, trademark, antitrust, fraud, breach of contract, business torts, and defamation. Patricia also maintains an active appellate practice.

Eli J. Flushman

Pronouns: he, him, his Eli Flushman is a public law partner in Burke’s Marin County office. Eli is a skilled municipal law attorney who has great experience advising cities on general municipal law, including, drafting ordinances, advising staff on land use and development, code enforcement, public nuisance litigation, and general litigation. Eli’s code enforcement practice centers on working with cities to abate properties with nuisance conditions utilizing administrative enforcement, civil litigation, receiverships, demolitions, inspection and abatement warrants, and voluntary compliance. He also has experience conducting criminal prosecutions for municipal code violations, and opposing Pitchess motions. Eli is a graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law. At USF, Eli was the President of the Jewish Law Student Association and a member of the USF Trial Team. Eli received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, where he spent a year with the baseball team. Prior to his employment with Burke, Eli worked for the City of Vallejo, where he built up and led the Neighborhood Law Program, a successful campaign utilizing legal processes to drastically improve the quality of life for citizens of Vallejo. Eli spent over six years in Vallejo, where the Neighborhood Law Program was involved in over 25 Receivership cases, and 20 public nuisance lawsuits, turning over severely dilapidated and nuisance properties and helping to create an environment that made Solano County one of the top real estate markets in the country. Prior to his work with the City of Vallejo, Eli has worked in the City Attorney's Office in Redwood City and in Berkeley, and as a Staff Attorney for the League of California Cities.

Marvin C. Cho

Pronouns: he, him, his Marvin Cho is a senior associate in Burke, Williams & Sorensen’s Los Angeles office and is a member of the firm’s Employment Law and Litigation practice group. He is an experienced litigator whose practice includes representing public and private employers in state and federal court, in arbitration proceedings, and before administrative agencies such as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Prior to joining Burke, Marvin worked at a prominent boutique employment litigation firm where he gained significant experience litigating claims for discrimination, retaliation, and harassment under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), wrongful termination claims, whistleblower actions, violations of California wage and hour law, and representative actions under the Private Attorneys General Act. Thereafter, Marvin joined a public entity defense firm where he defended civil lawsuits filed against municipalities including high-profile employment litigation alleging violations of the FEHA, civil rights cases against local law enforcement arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and personal injury actions. Marvin has substantial experience in all phases of civil litigation including engaging in motion practice, drafting appellate briefs, appearing in court for oral argument, taking depositions, handling all aspects of discovery, negotiating settlements, and preparing for trial. In 2010, Marvin graduated magna cum laude from UCLA with a B.A. in Psychology. He earned his J.D. in 2014 from UC Davis School of Law where he was an editor of the UC Davis Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. During law school, Marvin served as a judicial extern to the Honorable James V. Selna of the United States District Court, Central District of California. After law school, and prior to entering private practice, he served as a law clerk for all three Justices of the Supreme Court of Guam.

Susan K. Chelsea

Susan Chelsea has over three decades of employment law, business and commercial litigation, automobile dealership representation, construction law, and government contract claims experience. Susan’s practice primarily focuses on employment law, but over the past 30 years she has handled matters involving general business litigation, contract disputes, construction contract disputes, consumer claims, government contract claims, mechanic’s lien and stop notice claims, and general liability defense. Susan’s employment practice includes both counseling and litigation work. She drafts and updates employee handbooks, other employer policies and procedures, employment agreements, severance agreements, nondisclosure agreements, commission agreements, pay plans, and anti-harassment policies. Her employment counseling practice includes wage and hour compliance, hiring and firing, and FMLA, CFRA, and ADA compliance. Susan conducts workplace investigations as an independent investigator. She also counsels employers through the investigation process when the investigation is handled in-house or by an independent third party investigator. An experienced litigator, Susan has successfully tried and arbitrated cases involving wrongful termination, retaliation, wage and hour, trade secrets, and unfair competition as well as real estate issues, business disputes, construction disputes, securities transactions and products liability. Susan has defended employers in over 40 wage claims before the California Labor Commissioner. She has also successfully defended employers subject to Labor Commissioner citations, eliminating or substantially reducing civil penalties assessed against employers. Susan has also successfully defended businesses against OSHA citations, including obtaining dismissal of citations after a successful appeal and hearing. Finally, Susan has defended businesses against ADA claims, both in the employment context and related to accessibility issues. Susan frequently presents on topics related to employment law and provides training to employers on various topics including anti-harassment and bullying, how to conduct proper workplace investigations, and compliance with updated laws and regulations. A leader in the legal community, Susan served as Chair of USLAW Network’s Employment & Labor Law Practice Group. Susan was a faculty member of the University of San Diego Lawyer’s Assistant Program for nine years. She served on the Executive Committee of the State Bar Real Property Law Section and was the Co-Chair of the Litigation Subsection of the State Bar Real Property Law Section. She also served as Co-Chair of the San Diego County Bar Association Construction Law Section, and a barrister with the Inns of Court, Wallace Inn.

Mark H. Nys

Mark Nys represents automobile and recreational vehicle dealerships (single point, independent and automobile dealership groups) and automobile and recreational vehicle manufacturers, direct and indirect lenders, flooring lenders, automobile service centers and surety bonding companies in litigation involving catastrophic loss, negligence, fraud, product liability, warranty, lemon law and auto financing disputes throughout California. He has had extensive experience representing clients in franchise disputes between dealers and between dealers and manufacturers of automobiles and recreational vehicles. In the construction industry, Mark represents owners, developers, general contractors, subcontractors and design professionals in both residential and commercial construction, construction defect, workplace injuries and complex construction transactional matters. He provides guidance in both public and private works projects, counseling clients on construction financing, mechanics’ liens, stop notices, and enforcement actions. Mark also regularly represents sureties in claims against contractor license bonds. Mark also regularly defends mobile home parks and homeowners’ associations from liability arising from resident litigation. Licensed before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Mark is also experienced in litigating intellectual property disputes. In addition to appropriate court admissions, Mark is a licensed California real estate broker and serves as a trusted legal advisor to credit unions and other financial institutions in real estate transactions, credit union operations and lender liability litigation. Originally from Santa Maria, California, Mark graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 1985 with a B.A. in Chemistry. Graduating Phi Beta Kappa, Mark was a 4-time NCAA All-American in both singles and doubles tennis. He then attended the University of California at Irvine, where he received his Graduate Certificate in Hazardous Materials Management before moving on to California Western School of Law and earning his Juris Doctorate in 1997. Mark retired after twenty years of service as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Commander.

Gina N. Giovacchini

Pronouns: she, her, hers Gina N. Giovacchini is a senior associate in Burke, Williams & Sorensen’s Los Angeles office. Gina’s areas of practice include public entity defense, premises liability, dangerous condition of public property, and tort litigation. Gina is a member of the firm’s Public Law and Litigation practice groups. Prior to joining Burke, Gina defended clients against a variety claims including product and premises liability, breach of contract, construction defect, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, class-actions, and complex tort litigation. Gina earned her Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles and was admitted to the Bar of the State of California in 2016. She graduated with concentrations in Criminal Justice and Public Interest Law and was a member of the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy. Gina also clerked for the Capital Habeas Unit for the Oﬃce of the Federal Public Defender of the Central District of California, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Honorable Julia W. Brand of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California. Gina earned her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Gregory B. Thomas

Gregory Thomas is a partner at Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP who litigates complex cases in the following areas: government tort liability, civil rights, constitutional law, jail conditions of confinement, wrongful arrest, excessive force, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, products liability, writs and appeals, moving and storage claims and professional liability. Greg has focused on litigation since becoming a member of the State Bar of California in 2005. He is admitted to practice before all the courts of the State of California, all United States District Courts in California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Greg has extensive experience in all phases of civil litigation from pre-litigation negotiations to pleadings, law and motion, discovery, alternative dispute resolution, jury trials to verdict, writs and appeals, and enforcement of judgments and settlements. During law school, Greg served as a Judicial Extern for Justice Patricia D. Benke, California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division One and for Judge J. Richard Haden (Ret.), Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. He was also a member of the University of San Diego’s National Moot Court Team and Moot Court Executive Board. From 1997 to 2002, Greg served as an officer in the United States Navy aboard surface combatant ships actively deployed to areas ranging from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Japan.

Temitayo (“Ope”) Peters

Temitayo (“Ope”) Peters is a partner in the firm’s Oakland office. A member of the firm’s Litigation and Public Law Practice Groups, Ope provides legal representation for counties, cities and other public entities. She also provides litigation assistance to the firm's Employment Law Practice Group. Prior to joining the firm, Ope worked in various legal capacities for several human rights-focused non-governmental agencies and foreign governments worldwide, and in Washington, D.C. for a prominent lobbying firm. As a student at Pepperdine University School of Law, Ope earned certificates in International & Comparative Law and Dispute Resolution. She also participated in a mediation clinic where she facilitated the settlement of numerous small claims cases, was a member of the moot court board, and spent two respective semesters studying in Washington, DC and London, England.

Sally Trung Nguyen, AWI-CH

Pronouns: she, her, hers Sally Trung Nguyen is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group, and a core member of Burke’s Workplace Investigations team. Sally regularly conducts impartial workplace investigations and is an Association of Workplace Investigators Certificate Holder (AWI-CH). She has conducted countless complex workplace investigations involving sworn and non-sworn employees, and in both the private and public sector. Sally also oversees and advises clients on investigations conducted by outside neutral investigators. She counsels clients on, among other things, the investigation process, legal issues that arise, and strategic remedial action plans. Sally has a special affinity in helping clients resolve labor and employment disputes through pragmatic approaches. She regularly advises management, human resources, and in-house attorneys in the private and public sector on employment law compliance and best employment practices. Sally is well-versed in the areas of medical leaves of absence, disability accommodations, background checks, performance management, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, workplace bullying, at-will employment termination, just cause discipline, employee due process rights, separation of employment, compensation, layoffs, furloughs, medical examinations, wage and hour compliance, and collective bargaining. In recognizing that litigation arising from employment disputes cannot always be prevented and that clients’ needs vary, Sally provides advice that is specifically tailored to each client’s circumstances and priorities to help them overcome potential challenges they may face in a lawsuit. Sally has successfully represented clients in trial, administrative hearings, disciplinary appeals, and grievance arbitrations. In addition to Burke, Sally has worked at two AmLaw 100 law firms where she focused her practice exclusively on California labor and employment law matters. Sally has represented clients in individual and class action employment cases in state, federal, and administrative proceedings before the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the California Civil Rights Department (previously referred to as the “Department of Fair Employment and Housing”), and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In addition, Sally has earned a mediation certificate with Community Boards.

Kyle Anne Piasecki

Pronouns: she, her, hers Kyle Anne Piasecki is a partner at the Los Angeles office of Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP. She practices with the firm’s Litigation Department. Kyle Anne received her law degree in 2016 from the University of Michigan Law School. While in law school, she served as a Senior Editor of the Michigan Journal of Law Reform and published an Article in the journal entitled Surviving Preemption in a World of Comprehensive Regulations, 49 U. MICH. J.L. REFORM (2015). Kyle Anne graduated magna cum laude in 2011 from Macalester College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. Prior to joining Burke, Kyle Anne clerked for The Honorable Steven B. Berlin in the Department of Labor Office of Administrative Law Judges.

Kristin E. Charbonnier

Pronouns: she, her, hers Kristin Charbonnier is a trial attorney and partner in Burke’s San Francisco office. Her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, real estate litigation, and eminent domain. Kristin has achieved favorable results for her clients in jury trials, arbitrations and mediations. Kristin earned her J.D. from UC Davis where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Business Law Journal.

Maxwell A. Blum

Pronouns: he, him, his Maxwell Blum is a partner in Burke’s Oakland office. His practice involves representing public agencies in litigation matters as well as providing advice on compliance issues and assisting with related transactions. Maxwell has worked on litigation cases involving environmental contamination, inverse condemnation, breach of contract, code enforcement, relocation assistance, and other issues. He has also worked as a reviewer for CEB’s Municipal Law Handbook. Prior to joining Burke, Maxwell practiced for several years at an international law firm where he worked on complex commercial litigation and internal investigations.

Mark J. Austin

Pronouns: he, him, his Mark Austin is a partner at the law firm of Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, where his practice focuses on public-entity litigation, real estate litigation, corporate/partnership disputes, land-use and environmental litigation, and municipal tort defense (including dangerous condition cases, employment-related torts, and wrongful death matters). Mark has extensive trial experience, having handled multiple successful jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations, and has successfully argued before the California Court of Appeal over a dozen times. Mark began his career representing public entities on both litigation and transactional matters, including real-estate transactions and disputes, constitutional claims, complex land-use matters, employment disputes, and tort claims. Since that time, Mark has expanded his practice to include commercial disputes on behalf of businesses and developers of all sizes, private real-estate litigation, and environmental litigation. In his several years of practice, Mark’s clients have included residential and commercial developers, nationally recognized private companies, cities, counties, small businesses, and private homeowners. His focus on real estate litigation has given him substantial insights into drafting pitfalls, disclosure requirements, and judicial interpretations of written agreements. Mr. Austin has acted as deputy city attorney for several cities, and in 2015 he acted as the Interim City Attorney for the City of Calexico. He has represented the City of Anaheim, the City of Irvine, the City of Dana Point, the City of Torrance, and the City of Vernon, among several others, on multiple high-profile matters and cases. Published Cases Oxford Preparatory Academy v. Edlighten Learning Solutions (2019) 34 Cal.App.5th 605 (enforceability of contractual arbitration agreement) City of Cerritos v. Cerritos Taxpayers Assoc., et al. (2010) 183 Cal.App.4th 1417 (complex validation action concerning purchase and development of senior-housing project) In re County of Monterey Initiative Matter (N.D. Cal. 2006) 427 Fed.Supp.2d 958 (voting rights case) City of Long Beach v. Department of Industrial Relations (2004) 34 Call.4th 942 (amicus; prevailing wage issue)

Edward L. Shaffer

Pronouns: he, him, his A former professional city planner, Ed Shaffer excels in achieving positive outcomes for environmental, land use, and real estate law clients. He manages regulatory practices and resolves objections by interested parties such as applicants, neighbor groups, agency staff and decision makers. Ed represents real estate developers, commercial and industrial property owners, and public agencies. He is well versed in EIRs, development agreements and vested rights, general plans and zoning, use permits and subdivision matters. He serves as land use and CEQA special counsel for the firm's city clients. Ed is well versed in EIRs, development agreements and vested rights, general plans and zoning, use permits and subdivision matters. A major aspect of his practice involves guiding projects through the complex requirements of CEQA environmental review and development approval. In the process, Ed is able to strengthen the defensibility of approvals at risk of litigation. His prior career as a city planner and planning consultant gives him special insight into the priorities of public officials and the best path to achieving approvals that satisfy all parties. Ed is known for his attention to detail without losing sight of the client’s overall goals, whether spotting serious errors in an EIR, negotiating key terms of a contract, or making sure approval conditions are workable. Ed handles property rights matters, resolving and documenting easements and related issues. He also works with buyers and sellers negotiating complex real estate options and purchase agreements, performing due diligence, clearing title issues and helping close the deal. Ed is active in the East Bay Leadership Council, an advocacy organization promoting the economic vitality and quality of life in Contra Costa County, the Bay Area, and the state, and for many years he served as Co-Chair of the Council’s Land Use Task Force. These efforts involve close interaction with public officials at local, regional and state levels of government as well as key business leaders.

Gerald J. Ramiza

Pronouns: he, him, his Jerry Ramiza's practice emphasizes real estate transactional, land use, and public/private partnership development matters. Real Estate/Land Use/Public-Private Partnerships Jerry represents private clients and public agencies throughout California in connection with complex real estate and land use matters and transactions. Jerry’s work includes forward planning, assisting with development, land use, entitlement, design review, and permitting processes, environmental review, and CEQA/NEPA compliance. He routinely handles negotiation and documentation of purchase, sale, easement, lease and financing transactions; asset management (including loan administration, property management and landlord/tenant matters); negotiation and drafting of complex development agreements; foreclosures; public trust and tidelands transactions; surplus lands dispositions; workouts and secured transactions; and ancillary matters such as title insurance review, due diligence, environmental risk allocation and hazardous materials/ Brownfields matters. With over 15 years of experience in the redevelopment arena, Jerry is assisting successor agencies throughout the state in the implementation of the redevelopment dissolution act, ABx1 26. He also advises public agency clients in connection with the ferry-system transactions, affordable housing, federal contracting/BRAC process, utilization of federal grants, lease and parking revenue financing and assessment districts.

Charles W. Reese

Charles W. Reese’s over thirty-five years of legal practice include significant litigation experience at both the trial and appellate levels on behalf of both local public entities and private businesses. He has been actively involved with regulatory compliance and cost recovery litigation at many environmentally contaminated sites throughout the western United States, and with numerous transactions involving the acquisition, sale, and environmental regulation of businesses and real property. Chuck’s background includes litigation and transactional experience in the mining, engineering, chemical, and construction industries and in representing public entities. He is experienced with compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act and with air, water, and hazardous substance regulations. He has successfully represented major corporations and numerous public entities in significant cases at both the state and federal trial and appellate levels. In addition, Chuck is an experienced negotiator and advisor for both public and private entities. He has served on the board of directors of several national environmental engineering and manufacturing corporations. Chuck was the President and CEO of Wulfsberg Reese & Colvig prior to its merger with Burke.

Richard J. Reynolds

Rick Reynolds practices primarily in the areas of real estate and financial services litigation, business litigation, transactional real estate, lending law, and bankruptcy law on behalf of clients in California, Nevada, and Arizona. He practices in the State, Federal, and Bankruptcy Courts, as well as the Courts of Appeal. His experience includes the purchase and sale of real property and businesses, secured transactions, asset purchases and sales in Bankruptcy, receiverships, partition, easement and boundary disputes, contract and business tort litigation, and foreclosure-related litigation. The national directory of attorneys Martindale-Hubbell has awarded Rick its AV Preeminent rating, indicating that peers rank him at the highest level of professional excellence.

Rachel H. Richman

Pronouns: she, her, hers Rachel has proudly provided city attorney and general counsel services to public agencies throughout California for 25 years. Rachel serves as the City Attorney for the City of Camarillo and the City of Rosemead. She previously served as City Attorney to the cities of Arvin and Delano and as the Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Alhambra and Santa Clarita for several years. Rachel has extensive experience providing legal and practical advice to city councils, agency boards, city managers, department heads, and staff on a broad range of issues including planning and zoning, CEQA, conflicts of interest, open meeting laws, public contracting, prevailing wages, public records, first amendment issues, code enforcement, elections, ADA and mobile home park regulations. She drafts opinions, ordinances, resolutions, and negotiates and drafts agreements. She attends as legal counsel, city council meetings, planning commission meetings, and mobile home rent control panel meetings. Rachel is experienced working on behalf of cities with developers on commercial, residential, and mixed use projects. She has negotiated and drafted development agreements, exclusive negotiating agreements, owner participation and disposition and development agreements, and affordable housing agreements. She has worked on general plan updates, specific plans and amendments, first time home buyer agreements, façade improvement agreements, and reviewing and advising on CEQA documents. Rachel handles various aspects of labor and employment matters. These matters include responding to DFEH complaints, discipline and grievance matters, drafting personnel policies and for labor negotiations. Rachel regularly handles issues related to public works construction projects, including development of notices inviting bids, to reviewing bids and recommendation of award, she has dealt with bid protests as well as advising on dealing with construction delays, stop notices, liquidated damages issues and prevailing wage issues. Rachel also has experience in eminent domain on behalf of cities, agencies, and for the Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority involving pre-condemnation activities, initiation of condemnation actions, and drafting and negotiating settlement agreements. She is also cognizant of the public concerns that exist with the use of eminent domain. Rachel provides training on ethics and AB 1234, municipal governance ADA inclusion requirements and transparency laws to firm clients as well as providing presentations at various municipal conferences. Rachel served as Chair of the League's FPPC Committee. While at law school, Rachel was a member of Loyola's Moot Court Honors Board and received "Top Ten Brief" recognition. She was on the National Moot Court team and winner of the Regional National Moot Court competition. During law school she was a law clerk for the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Counsel's Public Works Department. In her approach to working with legislative bodies, staff and others to achieve their goals which can often be full of challenges she ascribes to the following perspective: “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” (Beverly Sills)

Steven D. Roland

Pronouns: he, him, his Steve Roland is active in the handling of real estate litigation involving purchase and sale, leaseholds, secured transactions, land-use and entitlement litigation, eminent domain, inverse condemnation, title issues, CC&R’s and joint venture and partnership disputes. Steve has represented Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, developers, public entities, landlords, tenants, retailers, owner-managers and brokers in matters involving shopping centers, urban and suburban mixed-use projects, condominium developments, office and apartment towers, business parks, industrial properties, master planned communities, hotel and resort projects, and mining projects. Steve’s practice also encompasses commercial matters, including unfair competition, trade secret, licensing, partnership and contract issues. Steve has extensive jury trial, court trial and arbitration experience and has regularly appeared before administrative agencies including planning commissions, city councils and administrative appeals boards. Steve’s work has involved properties and transactions in numerous states and in England, Canada, Norway and Australia. In addition to practicing in the federal and state courts of California, Steve has been admitted to practice pro hac vice or otherwise provided counsel in matters in Florida, Colorado, Texas, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, Hawaii, Washington and Delaware. Steve commenced private practice following clerkships with the California Supreme Court, Honorable Frank Richardson, and the San Francisco Superior Court, Honorable Ira Brown. He has served as an arbitrator and settlement panelist for the San Francisco Superior Court and as an expert witness on matters pertaining to the standard of care of counsel in commercial litigation.

David A. Rosenthal

Pronouns: he, him, his David Rosenthal practices in the areas of general business and commercial, securities, technology, corporate, partnership, limited liability company, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, public entity, and construction law. He has also drafted and negotiated numerous construction industry contracts, including construction, construction management, and design, for public, private, and non-profit owners, architects, engineers, and consultants. David previously practiced with a San Francisco law firm specializing in commercial leasing and lending, as well as general corporate and public and private securities issuance. He is admitted to practice in California. When not working, he spends his time taste-testing local ethnic foods and hiking.

Deepa Sharma

Pronouns: she, her, hers Deepa Sharma provides litigation and advisory services to public agency clients throughout California. Deepa has extensive experience advising clients and litigating in the areas of land use, planning and zoning, inverse condemnation, CEQA, municipal taxation, elections, and constitutional law issues such as due process, equal protection, and the First Amendment. She is also experienced in advising public agency clients on rent stabilization issues, and the implementation of California’s new housing laws. While in law school, Deepa served as a law clerk in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which oversees federal grants to state and local transit providers. She interned at the State of California’s Office of Legislative Counsel, where she assisted in drafting legislation in the areas of energy, environmental, transportation, and education law. Deepa also served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Maria P. Rivera of the California Court of Appeal, and was a staff editor and executive board member for the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. Before law school, Deepa served as a policy aide in the California State Legislature, and worked as a political consultant to various local and statewide campaigns.

Edith Sanchez Shea

Edith Shea is a partner with the firm and a member of the Litigation Practice Group. An experienced civil litigator, she has represented public and private clients in state and federal actions and appeals for more than twenty-five years. Edith maintains a varied litigation practice and has handled matters in the areas of business litigation, bad faith insurance law, construction, products liability, employment, medical malpractice and international trade. She has also represented clients in complex and class actions. Prior to entering the private sector, Edith was a Trial Attorney with the United States Department of Justice. She tried cases to verdict before the United States Court of International Trade and represented the United States before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. She continued her trial practice with both jury and bench trials before the United States District Courts and before the Superior Court for the State of California. Edith has also argued multiple appeals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the California Court of Appeal and she has drafted briefs submitted to the United States Supreme Court. Additionally, Edith has successfully resolved numerous matters through dispositive motions and has proven skills in managing discovery and litigation in complex actions. She has extensive experience negotiating for clients in mediations and settlement conferences and has demonstrated her commitment to the efficient resolution of disputes by serving as a Mediator and an Alternative Dispute Resolution Neutral for the Los Angeles Superior Court. In connection with this work, she completed training on Mediating the Litigated Case at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law. Edith is fluent in Spanish.

Anna C. Shimko

Pronouns: she, her, hers Anna Shimko is Chair of Burke's Real Estate and Business Practice Group. She focuses her practice on all areas of land use, real estate development, and environmental law, representing both public agencies and private landowners and developers in administrative and court proceedings to bring projects to fruition. Anna has particular expertise in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). She works closely with project proponents, public agencies, and environmental consultants on preparing and defending CEQA and NEPA documents such as negative declarations, environmental impact reports (EIRs), and environmental impact statements (EISs), including for complex projects such as water rights transfers, multi-phased mixed-use projects and large campus master plans. Anna helps private clients through all stages of the land use approval process, obtaining entitlements to build or expand large shopping centers, stand-alone retail stores, mixed-use projects, hospitals, hotels and resorts, golf courses, residential developments, and quarries, among others. She also assists cities, counties, special districts, and state agencies in regulating land and development, negotiating real estate transactional documents and development agreements, and updating general plans, specific plans, and zoning codes. Anna represents clients in matters involving the Subdivision Map Act, annexation, historic resources, public-private partnership transactions and financing mechanisms, the Coastal Act, air quality regulations, water supply, climate change regulations, transportation planning, eminent domain, and inverse condemnation. Anna litigates land use, CEQA, and NEPA matters for public and private clients at trial court and appellate court levels, and serves as an expert witness throughout California in cases involving land use development issues.

Kevin D. Siegel

Pronouns: he, him, his Kevin represents cities and other local agencies regarding a wide range of public law matters, including land use and planning, CEQA and environmental law, inverse condemnation and eminent domain, open meeting and public records, taxes and assessments, elections and initiatives, contracts and torts, and due process and other issues of constitutional law. Kevin provides litigation as well as advisory services. Kevin joined Burke, Williams & Sorensen in August 2012. Prior to joining Burke, Kevin was a Deputy City Attorney for the City of Oakland, where he specialized in writs and appeals. Previously, Kevin was a shareholder at McDonough Holland & Allen, where he litigated cases for public agencies across the State, and a Legal Research Attorney for the San Francisco Superior Court, where he advised judges regarding complex litigation. Kevin endeavors to reach positive outcomes for his clients, without litigation. But when litigation is necessary, Kevin zealously pursues successful outcomes in court.

Charles E. Slyngstad

Pronouns: he, him, his Charlie Slyngstad focuses his public law and private client law practice relationships between employers and employees, businesses and contracting parties, and lawyers and clients. He has experience as lead trial counsel in cases that included allegations of fraud, real estate fraud, employee whistleblowing and retaliation, race discrimination, the False Claims Act, conflicts of interest, employee pension and welfare benefits, wrongful termination, legal malpractice, malicious prosecution, alter ego, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and breach of joint venture and purchase agreements. He also has handled many appeals, for both public and private clients. Labor and Employment Law Charlie has represented private and public employers in employment matters, providing preventive counseling and litigation defense against various legal theories. His representation has involved different industries, including health care, transportation, travel, entertainment, employee benefits, apparel, real estate, and housing. He has advised the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles since 2006, for which he has successfully prosecuted former employees and others who misused federal funds provided to the agency. In several lengthy employment jury trials in Los Angeles Superior Court, Charlie was lead counsel for his client in reaching verdicts on whistleblower retaliation claims. He served as the primary attorney for a national employee benefits firm in a Department of Labor lead enforcement case in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. His class action experience has included serving as appointed class counsel on behalf of Plaintiff and Defendant classes. Litigation Charlie is certified as a specialist in Legal Malpractice Law by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California, a subject area that includes the prosecution and defense of lawyers in professional liability disputes, conflicts of interest, ethics, malicious prosecution, and anti-SLAPP motions. In addition to matters involving lawyers and clients, he also has handled many complex business litigation cases for private companies, and claims for and against qui tam plaintiffs and others under the federal and state False Claims Acts in the healthcare, defense, entertainment, and housing industries. Additional cases have included a wide variety of other torts, including accounting malpractice, securities fraud and multiple fraudulent Ponzi schemes, violations of Business & Professions Code section 17200, creditors’ claims, false advertising, real estate transactions, bank fraud, and trademarks and trade names. He has taken to trial more than 35 such cases in California courts, including federal courts. Real Estate and Business Law Charlie, in association with bankruptcy counsel, advised Victor Valley Community Hospital as special corporate and litigation counsel in connection with obtaining the consent of the California Attorney General to sell all of its assets and thereafter confirming its Chapter 11 Plan of Liquidation. He has acted as outside counsel and provided advice to a number of businesses, including other health care enterprises, closely-held companies, and sole proprietorships. Charlie currently acts as outside general counsel for the Odd Fellows Home of California, which owns and operates two large retirement communities in Napa and Saratoga, a role he also performed for Victor Valley Community Hospital from 1995-2011. He has assisted court-appointed receivers in workouts and liquidations of businesses under court supervision. Charlie has also worked on multiple legal issues and litigation matters for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles since 2006 and for the Housing Authority of the City of Glendale.

Alan A. Sozio

Pronouns: he, him, his A recognized figure in his field of eminent domain, Alan Sozio has played a lead role in numerous multi-parcel property acquisition projects throughout California. In addition to providing eminent domain legal services to numerous cities, special districts and housing authorities, Alan has since 2001 served as special acquisition counsel for the Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority in property acquisitions spanning more than 11 grade separation projects in the San Gabriel Valley. He is the co-author of the seminal practice guide used by public agency practitioners entitled “Eminent Domain: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Acquisition of Real Property,” and is the author of the popular eminent domain blog, “Right to Take | Doing it the Right (of) Way—Recommended Steps for the Acquisition of Real Property by Eminent Domain.” He is active in the eminent domain legal community where he is a frequent speaker and author on topics related to condemnation. Alan counsels public clients on early considerations and pre-acquisition activities necessary to the condemnation process. He litigates eminent domain and inverse condemnation actions and, when necessary, takes the matters through trial. Alan also drafts transactional documents, including purchase and sale agreements, right-of-entry agreements and leases, and provides advice regarding state and federal relocation assistance. He has appeared in both open and closed session with city councils, agency boards and other legislative bodies to speak on matters related to the acquisition of property and the condemnation process. In addition to eminent domain actions, Alan litigates matters involving physical and regulatory takings, contractual and boundary disputes, quiet title, unlawful detainer matters, land use and real estate issues. In 2005, Alan successfully completed the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Trial Advocacy Program. Thereafter, on a pro bono basis, Alan prosecuted to verdict criminal cases, and obtained favorable bench rulings in evidentiary trials, for the cities of Anaheim and Inglewood. Alan is a Brown Belt in the Israeli self-defense system of Krav Maga, and is a former "AA" rated competitive beach volleyball player. When not at the office, he enjoys surfing, skiing, and relaxing with his family on the beach.

Benjamin L. Stock

Pronouns: he, him, his Benjamin Stock is an accomplished litigator in both state and federal courts. His litigation and transactional practice emphasizes municipal law, eminent domain, land use, and inverse condemnation. Additionally, Ben serves as Town Attorney for both Ross and Tiburon, City Attorney for the cities of Benicia and Foster City, and General Counsel for Sanitary District Number 5 and Sausalito-Marin City Sanitary District. With regard to his eminent domain practice, Ben plays a key role in public clients' property acquisition activities. He counsels public clients on early considerations and pre-acquisition activities necessary to the condemnation process. He also litigates condemnation actions, negotiates settlements and, when necessary, takes the matters through trial. Additionally, Ben drafts transactional documents related to the acquisition of property through eminent domain. He is currently assisting multiple public entities with their condemnation needs throughout the state. Ben has spoken at numerous conferences on issues involving eminent domain. In addition to eminent domain, Ben has extensive experience representing public entities in litigation at both the trial court and appellate court levels. His areas of specialization include inverse condemnation and land use, CEQA, breach of contract, environmental law, and dangerous conditions public liability.

Brian A. Pierik

Pronouns: he, him, his Education and Employment Brian Pierik received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Loyola University in Los Angeles and his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola School of Law. Public Law Brian is the City Attorney for the City of Carmel by-the-Sea and the City of Pacific Grove. He is Legal Counsel for the San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission. Brian has also served as special counsel to over 40 public agencies in California in a wide range of matters including: Brown Act, Public Records Act, conflicts of interest, land use, property transactions (sales, purchases, leases, easements, licenses), LAFCO, annexations, drafting ordinances, resolutions and contracts, AB 1234 training, elections, transportation; public works, airport issues, civil rights, planning, environmental, growth control, administrative law, tort and other liability, employment law, litigation, appeals, eminent domain, inverse condemnation, land movement, and many other public law matters. Brian has written and presented papers before the City Attorneys Department of the League of California Cities, City Attorneys’ Association of Los Angeles County, California Specialized Training Institute, Public Works Officers Institute, City Clerk’s Department of the League of California Cities, and Southern California Water Utilities Association. Litigation Experience Brian has successfully represented many public agencies throughout California in litigation in both the trial courts and appellate courts. Representative cases include: Land Use: City of Goleta v. Superior Court, 40 Cal. 4th 270 (2006). The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of the City finding that a newly incorporated City has the authority to deny the Final Map. Land Use: Gong v. City of Rosemead, 226 Cal. App. 4th 363 (2014). This is an important case for public agencies with regard to many issues including the discussion on Government Code Section 815.3, the Government Code claims requirement, judicial notice, and the immunity provisions of Government Code Section 818.4. Brown Act: Taxpayers for Livable Communities v. City of Malibu, 126 Cal. App. 4th 1123 (2005). Brian successfully represented the City at trial of this Brown Act case. CEQA: SCOPE v. City of Santa Clarita, 197 Cal. App. 4th 1042 (2011). Brian represented the City at the trial on the Petition for Writ of Mandate. The trial court ruled in favor of the City and the judgment was affirmed on appeal. CEQA: Save Atascadero v. City of Atascadero, 2014 WL 3105199 (July 8, 2014). Petition for Writ of Mandate challenging the City of Atascadero’s approval of the Del Rio Commercial Specific Plan. The trial court ruled in favor of the City which was sustained on appeal. CEQA: SCOPE v. City of Santa Clarita; Vista Canyon Ranch, 2014 WL 7204118 (2014). Petition for Writ of Mandate alleging CEQA violations by the City on a 185 acre residential and commercial project. The trial court ruled in favor of the Petitioner. On appeal, the Court of Appeal reversed the trial court decision and ruled in favor of the City. Election Contest: Tran v. City of Rosemead, LASC Case No. GS 011559 (June 2009). Petition for Writ of Mandate in which Brian successfully represented the City at trial. Former Mayor John Tran alleged the City wrongfully rejected absentee ballots on the basis of signatures which did not match the voter registration signature. Eminent Domain: City of Santa Clarita v. NTS Systems, 137 Cal. App. 4th 264 (2006). Eminent domain case to acquire property for the construction of a major arterial road in the City. Brian was trial counsel for the City of Santa Clarita. The trial court ruled in favor of the City and the judgment was affirmed on appeal. Public Works Brian has substantial experience in all phases public works, examples include: Springfield Interchange: Completed in 2012 on time and within budget, the Springville Interchange was constructed on U.S. 101 in the City of Camarillo at a cost $40 million. Brian assisted with many phases of the Springville Interchange Project including review of bid documents and advice on construction issues. Camarillo Library: Opened in 2007, this new Library project came in on time and within budget, replacing the former library, and at 65,621 square feet is one of the best libraries in the State of California. Brian assisted with site acquisition, annexation issues with LAFCO, grant funding, and construction issues on this $28 million project. Atascadero City Hall Project: Brian was involved in providing legal advice to the City of Atascadero on a major reconstruction project of the Atascadero Historic City Hall with a project cost of $33 million. The project was completed in 2015 on time and within budget. Water Desalinization Plant: This City of Camarillo project began construction in 2019 and will be completed in 2021 at a cost of approximately $50 million. The Plant will treat groundwater that is high in salt content in order to provide potable water for the community. Brian has assisted in all phases of this project including site acquisition, annexation issues with LAFCO, drafting of bid documents and contracts and construction issues. City of Santa Clarita Bridge and Roadway Projects: Brian has advised the City of Santa Clarita on numerous major bridge and roadway projects including advice on preparation of bid documents, review and analysis of bids, evaluation of bid protests, construction management issues, surety issues, liquidated damages, stop notices, change orders, extra work and delay claims and arbitration. Real Estate Brian has extensive experience in real property transactions, examples include: Sale of City Property for Hotel Conference Center: A $70 million project; Brian assisted with the sale of 12 acres to the developer and the contracts for public improvements. Sale of Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District Property: The District owns 13 acres in the City of Simi Valley that was utilized for District offices and other purposes. Brian assisted the District with sale of property for $21 million. Purchase: Alamos Canyon, Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. Brian assisted Park District with the acquisition of 326 acres in Alamos Canyon for open space including 55 acres of sensitive habitat. Sale: Former Camarillo Library. Brian has assisted City staff with the potential reuse of the former library and a proposed sale to a non-profit to construct and operate a children’s museum at the site. Purchase: Guardian Building, Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. Brian assisted the District with purchase of a building on Guardian in the City of Simi Valley for $9 million as the new site for District Administrative Offices, recreational facilities and maintenance facilities.

Elizabeth M. Pappy

Pronouns: she, her, hers Elizabeth Pappy has more than 31 years’ experience as a litigator in State and Federal Courts and Arbitration. Her practice focuses on representation of businesses in a wide variety of legal disputes, and advice and counsel. Her clients include businesses and individuals of all sizes and types, including the construction industry, temporary service agencies, recyclers, gas station operators, and high tech companies. Elizabeth’s background as a bankruptcy attorney gives her the advantage of being able to counsel creditors on debtor-creditor rights issues and bankruptcy matters as well as litigate in Bankruptcy Court. She has particular expertise in successfully handling difficult disputes between family members and matters involving highly emotional and sensitive issues, including probate, palimony and business issues arising in divorce actions. Elizabeth’s personal attention and acuity to the needs of her clients within the context of the litigation system have brought her clients' satisfactory results under what are otherwise very unsatisfactory circumstances. In the past 10 years, Elizabeth’s work for business clients has included defense of ADA-construction barrier claims and housing discrimination claims, including a successful trial where the plaintiff sought a $200,000 modification to client premises. She successfully tried the case to a defense verdict and which was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.

Nathan A. Oyster

Pronouns: he, him, his Nathan Oyster is the Vice Chair of the Litigation Practice Group at Burke. His practice focuses on the defense of law enforcement officers and local governments in civil rights litigation, and he also provides guidance to law enforcement agencies on the implementation of policies that reduce the likelihood of litigation. Nathan has been recognized as one of the leaders in Law Enforcement Defense litigation in California. His March 2023 defense verdict on behalf of the City of Los Angeles in a fatal officer-involved shooting case was selected by the Daily Journal as one of the top 20 defense verdicts in the state in the publication’s annual Top Verdicts edition. Nathan’s litigation experience is extensive. In 2024 alone, Nathan has represented 13 different law enforcement agencies throughout the state in civil litigation. He has tried cases in both state and federal court, with his first jury trial coming at age 24. He has also argued before both the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the California Court of Appeal. Nathan has defended nearly every type of litigation that a law enforcement agency could face, including officer-involved shootings, deaths due to excited delirium, class action litigation, malicious prosecution claims, allegations of excessive force, and allegations of unconstitutional jail conditions. He is adept at defending litigation brought under Section 1983, the Unruh Act, the Ralph Act, and the Bane Act. Nathan also advises law enforcement agencies throughout the state on a variety of policy issues. Representative clients include the County of Riverside, the University of Southern California, and the cities of Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Whittier.

Nicholas J. Muscolino

Pronouns: he, him, his Nick Muscolino is a partner in the firm’s Oakland office. Nick specializes in the legal and procedural defenses available to public entities under California law. He has successfully represented public entities in trial and appellate courts throughout California in disputes concerning inverse condemnation, preemption, eminent domain, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), water rights, flood and storm water diversions, public nuisance, negligence, quiet title, breach of contract, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), the Fair Housing Act, the Fair Employment and Housing Act, the First Amendment, Section 1983, preemption, redevelopment dissolution, local land use and zoning, and general plan consistency. Nick also provides advisory services to cities and other public entities. He has served as a deputy or assistant city attorney to several cities. In that capacity, he advises on the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, CEQA, litigation, mobilehome issues, civil rights issues, affordable housing, and other areas of general municipal law. Nick drafts the staff reports, resolutions, ordinances, and agreements (e.g., purchase and sale, joint powers, loan, disposition and development), that public agencies need to serve the public. He also provides opinion letters on the legality of various housing preferences under state and federal law, and other land use and zoning-related issues. Nick graduated Order of the Coif from the University of California, Davis in 2009, where he served as an Executive Editor of the Journal of Environmental Law and Policy. After law school, Nick served as a law clerk to the Honorable Justice Morgan Christen of the Alaska Supreme Court (now of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) in Anchorage before entering private practice at a large law firm in San Francisco. Nick works closely with clients to understand their goals and to determine how to achieve their desired outcomes in the most cost-effective and timely manner.

Karen W. Murphy

Pronouns: she, her, hers Karen Murphy is a partner in Burke’s Oakland office and has been representing public agencies for over 20 years. She currently serves as the General Counsel of Union Sanitary District, and advises numerous public agencies on a full range of municipal law issues, including Brown Act, Public Records Act, conflict of interest laws, public contract code, code enforcement, contract review, and bidding and claims procedures. Karen served as the Assistant City Attorney of the City of Brentwood from 2006 to 2011, where she was the primary attorney staffing the Community Development Department and former Redevelopment Agency. From 1999 to 2006, Karen was an associate with the law firm of McDonough Holland & Allen, PC Karen also has particular expertise advising public agencies on land use and development, housing and real estate issues. She advises public agencies on CEQA compliance, the subdivision map act, and land use approval procedures and processing of land use applications for projects ranging from use permits to complex commercial, mixed-use and residential projects. More recently, she has advised cities on the implementation of California’s new housing laws, including SB 330. In addition, Karen has negotiated and drafted development agreements and amendments for hotel, residential and mixed-use development projects. Karen’s real estate experience includes drafting and negotiating purchase and sale agreements, leases, easements, licenses, and disposition and development agreements.

Gregory M. Murphy

Pronouns: he, him, his Gregory Murphy is a trusted advisor, counselor, and transactional attorney for public entities throughout California. He currently serves as City Attorney for the cities of Buellton, Lawndale and Temple City. Greg also has over 13 years’ experience serving as Assistant or Deputy City Attorney to a number of the firm’s municipal clients and legal counsel to the firm’s joint powers authority and special district clients. Greg regularly advises elected and appointed officials, navigating delicate issues with politically-divergent boards. He presents clearly and in real-world terms the impacts of legal constraints on agency activities. Greg takes time to understand clients’ long- and short-term goals and how the law affects those objectives, finding ways to achieve them whenever possible. His focus on crafting legal advice that is practical, workable, and client-centered creates confidence and lasting relationships. Experienced in the areas of land use and development, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), public contract law, prevailing wage law, purchases and sales of real property, and municipal economic issues, Greg has advised developers and public contractors as well as public entities. He attends planning and community development commission meetings and handles closed-session briefings of legislative bodies. He also advises on a number of election law issues ranging from charter amendments and ballot designations to election contests and post-contest litigation. Greg also engages in litigation related to land use, tax, contract, and election issues. What I’ve Learned: Be creative. If you start a project thinking you can find a way to accomplish it, you’ll often be right. If you start by thinking you can’t accomplish it, you’ll always be right.

Mark J. Mulkerin

Mark Mulkerin's practice includes litigation and commercial matters for public and private entities in a wide variety of subject matters. Mark has successfully represented clients in eminent domain, inverse condemnation, land use, ground and riparian water matters, public works, construction law and construction defect actions, business and finance matters, products liability, complex business and personal tort, and computer and Internet-related litigation. Mark has successfully defended public entities, developers, and general contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers, and other design professionals in multi-party construction defect actions, as well as in general legal matters. He also has successfully represented public entities, businesses, and individuals both in the defense and prosecution of civil litigation claims. Mark has also represented EarthLink Network, Inc. and other commercial enterprises in computer law, general business, and Internet-related matters.

Joseph M. Montes

Pronouns: he, him, his Joseph Montes serves as the City Attorney for the cities of Alhambra, San Marino and Santa Clarita. In those capacities, Joseph has provided advice and opinions on issues involving public contracts, privatization, planning, zoning, redevelopment, elections, employment, constitutional rights, conflicts of interest, and telecommunications issues. He has also assisted public entities with issues concerning the Brown Act, the Subdivision Map Act, Mello-Roos Community Facilities District and Improvement Bond Act of 1915 financing, the Government Tort Claims Act, the Public Records Act, Proposition 218, the Political Reform Act, the California Voting Rights Act, and CEQA. He has drafted contracts, resolutions, ordinances, development agreements, and employee policies. Joseph’s litigation experience has primarily involved representation of municipal entities in state and federal court. He has been involved in public works contract disputes, code enforcement, administrative writ proceedings, transient occupancy tax collection actions, Civil Rights abuse cases, police excessive force cases, California Government Tort Claims Act matters, assessment district foreclosures, and flood damage actions. In terms of land use and redevelopment, Joseph’s experience includes acquisition of land through eminent domain proceedings, negotiations for redevelopment projects and drafting of owner participation agreements and development agreements. In law school, Joseph was a staff writer for the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Journal (1992-1993) and the Chief Note and Comment Editor (1993-1994), and received an American Juris Prudence Book Award for Trial Advocacy. Joseph ascribes to the philosophy, “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.” (Arthur Ashe).

Monica Sanchez McQueen

Pronouns: she, her, hers Monica Sanchez McQueen is a partner in Burke’s Los Angeles office, representing public and private sector clients in labor and employment law matters. Monica has represented and advised employers on matters involving numerous federal and state law claims, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, defamation, leaves of absence, whistleblower violations, freedom of speech, and association, privacy, and wage and hour, including collective and class action suits. In addition, Monica’s practice includes representation of public employers in areas unique to public employment such as due process, disciplinary procedures, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, CalPERS, and the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act and the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act. Monica has an extensive counseling practice, focusing on preventive measures of employment and labor law. In this regard, she has drafted and revised employee handbooks, personnel rules, personnel ordinances, updated specific policies and advised public agencies on the handling of a variety of employment matters. Monica has developed and led comprehensive wage and hour audits analyzing City-wide practices of a broad range of job positions and industries and recommended changes to policies, procedures and collective bargaining agreements to ensure compliance with all aspects of state and federal wage and hour laws. Monica has evaluated and responded to CalPERS’ comprehensive pension audit findings of City-wide compensation and reporting practices and developed and implemented policies and procedures to ensure future compliance with CalPERS' rules and regulations. Monica has represented public agencies in all aspects of labor and has identified issues to bargain, recommended, drafted and responded to proposals, advised lead negotiators and members of bargaining teams, has acted as negotiator for police, fire and miscellaneous unions during labor negotiations, and drafted and oversaw implementation of labor agreements. In addition to labor negotiations, Monica has extensive experience in handling related labor relations matters, such as grievances, PERB proceedings including unfair practices, unit recognition, unit modification, elections, and unit decertification. Monica has negotiated and drafted employment contracts for high-level employees. She also conducts a variety of workplace trainings for managers and employees on matters such as the prevention of discrimination and harassment, workplace violence and working in the public sector. While attending the University of California, Los Angeles, Monica interned at the United States Department of Education, in the Office of the Secretary, in Washington D.C. While in law school, she was a member of the San Diego Law Review. She was also the secretary for Phi Delta Phi, a legal honor fraternity, and the Secretary for the Hispanic National Bar Association, Law Student Division. Monica studied at the University of San Diego Institute of International and Comparative Law in Barcelona, Spain and Oxford, England.

John E. McOsker

Pronouns: he, him, his John McOsker has been a complex business litigator, and labor and employment litigator and day-to-day employer advisor since he joined the State Bar of California in 1993. Throughout his career he has served in various roles for the firms with which he was affiliated including managing partner, litigation group chair, business litigation subcommittee chair and management advisory board. Upon graduation from law school and admission to the bar, John’s practice has been focused on business litigation and labor and employment in the private security, healthcare, insurance, and aviation sectors. John has defended companies in California state and federal courts, various forms of administrative hearings, agency enforcement actions, and adversarial proceedings, including in front of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Small Business Administration, the United States Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, the California Attorney General, California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. John defends employers with regard to single plaintiff employment claims (Title VII, FEHA), wage and hour class actions, and PAGA claims. John represents employers in a wide variety of employment-related matters, including both defense of litigation and day-to-day counseling regarding employment decisions, employee conflict and liability avoidance, and legal compliance. John is a member of the LA County Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Section, which concerns itself with significant developments in employment discrimination law. John has not only experienced labor and employment from a lawyer’s perspective, but he has actively and directly managed legal departments, compliance departments and human resources staffs both in-house and as a dedicated outside Legal/HR Manager, for over a decade. As a result, John has not only first-hand experience giving sound labor and employment advice, but also on-the-ground experience executing legal, compliance and human resources strategies. Additionally, John assists employers developing strategies to avoid litigation. This includes working with employers to modify employment policies and practices, conducting workplace investigations, engaging in workplace counseling/interactive process, and drafting employee handbooks, employment agreements, arbitration agreements and severance agreements. John assists employers with devising and executing recruiting strategies, reductions-in-force, onboarding and off-boarding. John helps employers devise and roll-out policies that enhance clients’ objectives while complying with the law. Finally, John has a significant traditional labor law practice, both transactional and adversarial. John negotiates and drafts collective bargaining agreements and memoranda of understanding covering workforces in the service industries spanning unique and diverse jurisdictions, across the state and country. In addition to negotiating and drafting agreements, John defends grievances, conducts arbitrations, represents clients on Unfair Labor Practice charges, participates in representation hearings, elections, de-certifications, and other NLRB proceedings. John’s entire legal career has been spent in and around Los Angeles and he has volunteered his time and expertise to the local community. He was appointed by Mayor James K. Hahn to serve on the Harbor Area Planning Commission and did so from 2001-2006. He served as the Commission’s President from 2002-2006. In addition to his service on the Area Planning Commission, he was appointed to membership on the Port Community Advisory Committee. He has volunteered as a member of the Board of Managers of the San Pedro Peninsula YMCA since 2005 and has been a legal volunteer for the St. Lawrence Brindisi/Watts Youth Center since 1995. John is a founding Board Member of LA Fleet Week, a non-profit established to annually host the United States Navy for fleet activities in the Los Angeles Harbor beginning 2016.

Stephen A. McEwen

Pronouns: he, him, his Stephen A. McEwen joined Burke in 2003. Stephen previously served as City Attorney for Buellton and Laguna Woods and Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Atascadero, Hemet and Stanton. In these roles, Stephen has drafted numerous ordinances and resolutions and has advised cities on a wide range of legal issues with a special emphasis on the Public Records Act, the Brown Act, and code enforcement. Stephen has also utilized his extensive constitutional law background to advise municipal clients on First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment issues. Stephen is responsible for supervising code enforcement efforts for Burke’s municipal clients. In this capacity, he utilizes the full range of code enforcement tools, including informal office conferences, inspection warrants, administrative hearings, civil nuisance actions, and misdemeanor prosecutions. Although his emphasis in this area is on resolving code violations without the need for judicial intervention, he has successfully prosecuted numerous code enforcement cases to completion. Stephen obtained a guilty verdict from a jury on all counts against a property owner for maintaining multiple building code and property maintenance violations. He obtained guilty verdicts against two defendants for operating an unpermitted nightclub. He has also obtained preliminary and permanent injunctions in multiple code enforcement matters involving zoning violations, public nuisance conditions, and unpermitted marijuana facilities. In addition to his code enforcement prosecution experience, Stephen has handled a broad array of litigation for the firm's municipal and governmental clients, including disputes involving eminent domain, inverse condemnation, tort liability, construction defects, construction contract disputes, CEQA, and the Federal Civil Rights Act. He served as co-counsel in a successful bench trial regarding a client's right to take property through eminent domain. Stephen successfully defended the City of East Palo Alto in a trial involving alleged Brown Act and Due Process violations. Stephen advises municipal clients throughout the state on issues related to medicinal and adult-use marijuana. He has obtained numerous preliminary injunctions against unpermitted dispensaries and successfully defended cities against an array of constitutional and state law challenges brought by dispensary operators. In 2012, he authored the League of California Cities’ amicus brief in City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center, Inc., in which the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that local governments have zoning authority to prohibit medicinal marijuana dispensaries within their boundaries. As a result of this work, Stephen was appointed in 2014 to the League of California Cities Ad Hoc Cannabis Regulation Committee. He also served two terms as the City Attorney Department representative for the League’s Public Safety Policy Committee from 2014-2015. After law school graduation, Stephen clerked for Judge Arthur L. Alarcon on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He later served as a Deputy Attorney General in the Criminal Division of the California Department of Justice. As a prosecutor, Stephen represented the state in two successful trial-level prosecutions, over seventy felony criminal appeals in the California Court of Appeal, and over eighty habeas corpus proceedings in federal district court and the Ninth Circuit. In November 2002, he represented the California Department of Corrections successfully in an evidentiary hearing in Federal District Court in a case involving allegations of prosecutorial misconduct against the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Nancy Jerian Marr

Nancy Marr brings a national perspective to her ERISA and insurance litigation practice. Serving as in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 insurance company on the East Coast, she managed cases across several circuits. She previously practiced with a boutique litigation firm in Los Angeles. Her current focus is in litigation involving life, health and disability coverage, ERISA fiduciary liability, annuity contracts, and bad faith actions. While in law school, Nancy was a judicial extern for Hon. Dickran Tevrizian, United States District Court, Central District of California, and a note and comment editor for the Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Journal. Words of wisdom from a senior partner before a first court appearance, “Remember who your client is and know your way to the courthouse.”

Daniel W. Maguire

Pronouns: he, him, his Dan Maguire is a partner in Burke’s Palm Desert office. He counsels life, health, and disability insurers in pre-litigation, coverage, trial, and appellate matters. Dan represents our clients in individual and group disability, life, long-term care and investment product disputes. He is a frequent speaker on insurance and ERISA matters, and has given presentations at numerous national conferences including the Defense Research Institute, ALI/ABA, American Conference Institute, International Disability Insurance Society, Association of Life Insurance Counsel, and Eastern Claims Conference, for which he acts as Vice-President. He is Past Chair of the Health and Disability Insurance Law Committee of ABA-TIPS. His pro bono work has included client representation through Los Angeles Public Counsel, and the Public Service Law Corporation. Dan is also a licensed California Real Estate Broker.

Eric S. Vail

Pronouns: he, him, his Eric S. Vail, a Partner of Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, is Chair of the firm’s robust Public Law Practice Group and serves on the firm’s Management Committee. During his twenty-five-plus years practicing public law, he has gained invaluable experience representing a variety of public entities as either general or special counsel, and become fluent in general municipal law; problem-solving, conflicts of interest and public transparency, land use, public transactions, transition issues and joint powers authorities. Currently, Eric serves as City Attorney for the City of Cathedral City and as General Counsel to SunLine Transit Agency. He is also currently serving as Interim City Attorney for the City of Rialto. Through the years Eric has also represented a number of other public entities as City Attorney, Interim City Attorney, Assistant City Attorney, or special counsel, including the City of Hemet, City of Temple City, City of Rialto, Omnitrans, Orange County Development Authority, City of Moreno Valley, Riverside Redevelopment Agency, the Housing Authority for the County of San Bernardino, the Goleta Redevelopment Agency, Riverside County Education Foundation, and Housing Partners I, Inc., Hemet Community Land Trust, Port Hueneme Redevelopment Agency, City of Lawndale, City of Elk Grove, City of Banning, City of Lake Forest, City of Hesperia, City of Ontario, and the Chaffey Joint Union High School District. Offering practical legal solutions to organizational problems are Eric’s hallmark. He has experience with recall elections, term limits and citizen initiatives. He has helped City Councils negotiate and contract with new and outgoing city managers and other department heads, and has helped navigate difficult retirement, discipline and dismissal of employees. In his capacity as City Attorney, Eric has administered legal resources and overseen cost containment and cost avoidance programs for his clients and managed legal staffs of up to 30 legal service providers.

Erica L. Vega

Pronouns: she, her, hers Erica Vega has dedicated her entire legal career to the representation of cities and other public agencies across California. She serves as City Attorney for the City of Eastvale, as Assistant City Attorney for Alhambra and Pacific Grove, and has worked with numerous other cities in both general and special counsel roles. In addition to her work with cities, Erica serves as General Counsel to two mosquito and vector control special districts. Erica serves as a trusted advisor to public agency governing bodies, commissions, and staff on a wide array of legal issues, with a particular focus on land use, development and housing, elections, ethics and transparency, and cannabis regulation. She ensures that she delivers advice to clients in a manner that is understandable and contains practical guidance that can be readily applied in the real world. In providing advice, Erica focuses on both legal compliance and risk assessment, understanding that many complex situations faced by public agencies do not have clear cut answers. Erica has extensive experience advising cities on land use and environmental issues related to proposed development projects, including large private development projects and public infrastructure improvements. She has negotiated and drafted complex development agreements and has experience advising on the acquisition and disposition of property by public agencies, including Surplus Land Act compliance. Erica routinely advises public agencies on CEQA compliance throughout the project processing and approval process. She has reviewed CEQA documents for and advised on freeway interchange improvements and major state highway projects, General and Specific Plans, large commercial and mixed use developments, university campus expansions, hospitals, and master planned residential developments proposing thousands of new homes. Erica has extensive experience advising on ballot measures, whether initiated by the agency or voter petition. She has worked on numerous initiatives, referendums, and recall attempts, including situations where there are competing ballot measures. She is knowledgeable on the local elections process from start to finish. She has drafts ballot measures and impartial analyses and works closely with the local elections official to ensure Elections Code procedures and requirements are satisfied. Erica is an active in organizations representing the interests of public agencies. She served two terms on the CalCities Governance, Transparency and Labor Relations Policy Committee and for six years on the CalCities City Attorney’s Department Public Records Act Committee. She is a contributor to the CalCities publications “The People’s Business” and “Providing Conflict of Interest Advice.” A graduate of Smith College, Erica majored in Government. She also studied in Geneva, Switzerland, where she was enrolled at the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute for International Studies. Erica obtained her Juris Doctorate from the University of California School of Law San Francisco (UC Law SF, formerly UC Hastings). At UC Law SF, Erica focused her studies on public law and policy. She participated in the school’s Center for State and Local Government Law and Public Law Research Institute.

Jack P. Lipton, Ph.D.

Pronouns: he, him, his Jack P. Lipton is a Partner and is Chair of our Education Law Practice Group. His practice encompasses a wide range of areas, particularly involving public and private schools and colleges. Jack Lipton has experience in collective bargaining, special education, school facilities, governance, student discipline, human resources, the Brown Act, accreditation, licensing, financial aid, construction, real property transactions, interpretation of the Education Code and Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, contract review, and other legal issues affecting educational institutions, and he has handled cases in both state and federal courts as well as with the Public Employment Relations Board, the Bureau for Private Post-Secondary Education, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Employment Commission. Jack, who has a Ph.D. in Psychology, has a special interest in the field of psychology-and-law. Jack also has extensive litigation experience, and he has handled writs and appeals before the California Court of Appeal, the California Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals. Jack has served on the Editorial Board for the Journal of College and University Law, published by the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Jack received his J.D. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Arizona College of Law, where he served as Articles Editor of the Arizona Law Review and graduated in the top 4% of his class. After law school, Jack served as a Law Clerk to the late Hon. Thomas Tang at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. A member of the California Bar, Jack is admitted to practice in the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of the U.S. District Court in California, as well as before the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Jack received a B.A. degree in Psychology, cum laude, from U.C.L.A. He earned a Master’s degree in Social Psychology from California State University, Northridge, and his Master’s thesis concerned psychological aspects of eyewitness testimony. Jack received a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California, Riverside; Jack’s doctoral dissertation, sponsored by the U.S. Justice Department, dealt with juries. Jack Lipton is Principal Bassist and a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Lawyers’ Philharmonic Orchestra. Prior to becoming an attorney, Jack had a career as an academic psychologist and taught at Humboldt State University, Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., University of Arizona, and Arizona State University. Also, before earning his Ph.D., Jack taught at Chaffey College, Fullerton College, and San Bernardino Valley College. Jack has been an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University, and at Southwestern University School of Law, where he teaches Education Law. Jack Lipton has served as a Mediator and an Arbitrator, and he was Foreperson of the Grand Jury for the Central District of California. Jack has served as Chair of the Committee on Legal Issues of the American Psychological Association (“APA”) where he was involved with amicus briefs on behalf of the APA. Though currently inactive, Jack is licensed or certified to practice psychology in California, Arizona, and New York. As a psychologist, Jack has served as a consultant in both the public and private sectors, and he has regularly testified as an expert witness. Jack is widely published and has given lectures and presentations in forums throughout the United States and abroad such as at universities and professional conferences. Jack also provides legal assistance to psychologists and other mental health professionals.

Martin Kosla

Pronouns: he, him, his Martin Kosla primarily practices in the areas of litigation, real estate, and public law. Martin has handled numerous judicial foreclosure matters for cities and districts in order to recover delinquent special taxes (under the Mello-Roos Act) and delinquent special assessments (under the Streets and Highways Code). This has included taking judicial foreclosure cases to trial, defending appeals filed by property owners, assisting with complex workouts, taking properties to sale, assisting with credit bids and foreclosure sales, and giving general advice on bond and CFD matters. He also has experience in handling real estate transactions, including preparing agreements related to the purchase, sale, and lease of real estate. Martin has drafted various agreements concerning real property, including purchase and sale agreements, easements, and deeds of trust, as well as affordable housing agreements. He has also provided clients with advice on surplus land issues related to the disposal of land by public entities. (Martin is also licensed as a real estate broker in California.) Martin has experience in transactional work, including preparing documents associated with the formation of California corporations and limited liability companies. He also has experience in handling trademark registration matters for private and public clients. Martin is an experienced litigator. In addition to prosecuting judicial foreclosure cases, he has defended government entities against alleged breaches of constitutional rights. In particular, Marin has successfully and efficiently handled numerous cases against prison staff, including defending prison medical staff against allegations of deliberate indifference to medical needs under the Eighth Amendment; defending correctional staff again alleged First Amendment retaliation claims; handling Fourteenth Amendment due process claims; defending prison officials against alleged First Amendment exercise of religion claims; defending custody staff against alleged excessive force and failure to protect claims; and handling various cases filed by inmates in state court relating to issues such as medical malpractice. He has worked on defending deliberate indifference to medical needs claims against counties and their staff. This has included defending Monell claims based on county policies and practices that allegedly resulted in the deprivation of the detainee's rights. He has also worked on state and federal cases files against private jail operators and police departments based on alleged failures to protect. Martin has also handled a broad range of business litigation cases ranging from defending companies for breach of contract arising out of the supply of goods and services to representing officers of private companies in disputes between their members. He has also represented public entities in real estate related matters, including lawsuits to extinguish easements and roadways. Prior to relocating to California, Martin practiced as an attorney in Melbourne, Australia, where he specialized in all aspects of business litigation. During this time, Martin also handled various real estate and transactional matters for individual and corporate clients. Before becoming an attorney, Martin served as a forward observer in the Royal Australian Artillery.

Keiko J. Kojima

Pronouns: she, her, hers Keiko Kojima's practice includes a broad range of litigation matters, including insurance coverage disputes, bad faith liability actions, and contractual disputes. Keiko's primary focus is in the area of ERISA and employee benefits, including the representation of insurers in life, health, and disability litigation. She also provides litigation assistance to the firm's Education Law Practice Group. While attending Brown University, Keiko interned for former Congressman Esteban E. Torres in Washington D.C. She was also selected to participate in the Everett Public Service Internship Program to work as a summer intern for Citizens for Tax Justice in Washington D.C. While in law school, she received an American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence.

Michelle Marchetta Kenyon

Pronouns: she, her, hers Michelle Kenyon provides legal representation for cities and other public agencies as city attorney and special counsel. Michelle currently serves as City Attorney for the cities of Rohnert Park, Calistoga, Piedmont and Pacifica, Town Attorney for the Town of Moraga, and Special Counsel to several cities in the Bay Area. She previously has served as Acting/Interim City Attorney for many cities including the City of Redwood City, Daly City, Pleasant Hill, and the Town of Danville. Her practice includes advising city councils and staff in all areas of municipal law issues such as annexation procedures, bidding and claims procedures, CEQA, code enforcement, conflicts of interest laws, contract review, elections, Government Tort Claims Act, initiatives, referenda, land use and planning, municipal finance, open meeting laws, personnel, Proposition 218, and water supply assessments. Michelle’s other areas of specialty include land use litigation and appellate advocacy. She is experienced in both state and federal trial and appellate courts, including written appearances in the U.S. Supreme Court. She has successfully served as lead attorney in litigation involving CEQA, inverse condemnation, election law, civil rights, Proposition 218 and rent control, with several outcomes garnering published decisions.

Stephen E. Velyvis

Pronouns: he, him, his Steve Velyvis is a well-respected land use and environmental law attorney with over 20 years of expertise advising and representing public agency and private clients in administrative proceedings and before state and federal trial and appellate courts. Steve has extensive advisory and litigation experience with and works daily on projects addressing complex legal issues spanning the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Power Act, and the California Coastal Act, as well as the state and federal legal and regulatory frameworks governing clean water, clean air, endangered species and electricity generation and transmission. He also routinely represents clients in land use and planning-related matters and advises on CEQA compliance issues in eminent domain matters. While Steve has extensive advisory and litigation experience with a multitude of environmental laws, he is most experienced with CEQA, having represented parties on all three “sides” of the CEQA equation. In other words, in addition to successfully representing Burke’s many municipal and public agency clients, Steve has also successfully represented numerous private clients (e.g., project applicants and project opponents.) In this regard, Steve distinguishes himself as a leading CEQA practitioner. Steve’s deep and varied experience gives him invaluable insight into what all three sides on a given CEQA project are thinking at every step along the way. This unique perspective also enables him to develop cutting-edge legal strategies aimed at resolving conflicts and prevailing in litigation, as opposed to simply posturing or falling back on routine "cookie cutter" advice and litigation tools. In sum, Steve draws on his collective experience to help Burke’s clients think outside the box and routinely provides successful, cost-effective results.

John J. Welsh

John Welsh is Burke, Williams & Sorensen's Managing Partner and Chairperson of the Management Committee. He has served in these positions since 1996 and is responsible for the firm’s management strategy and financial performance. John is a regular presenter and commentator at continuing education law forums and law practice management conferences. When not serving in the above roles, John provides corporate expertise to the firm's private business and not-for-profit clients. Specifically, John serves as corporate counsel to numerous companies and has negotiated and drafted all of the following documents: supply agreements, distribution agreements, joint venture agreements, franchise agreements, employee confidentiality agreements, leases, sale and purchase of assets and stock agreements, covenants not to compete, partnership agreements, articles of incorporation, bylaws, and SEC filings. Additionally, John has corporate litigation experience involving discovery, law and motion, and trial work involving each of the following causes of action: breach of contract, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, fraud, trade secrets, negligence, and infliction of emotional distress. John's education law experience encompasses a wide variety of institutional and student-related legal issues including, but not limited to, due process rights in disciplinary and tenure matters, sexual harassment, minority-based admissions and scholarship programs, reasonable accommodations for disabled students, student waivers, inappropriate discipline of students by faculty, right to privacy and public records access, duty of care of institution and its employees, free speech and assembly rights, plagiarism, student assault and battery, revocation and withholding of diplomas, campus crime disclosure, drug testing, accreditation and certification, open meeting laws, and institutional liability for employee negligence.

Nora E. Wetzel

Pronouns: she, her, hers Nora Wetzel is a commercial litigation attorney in Burke’s San Francisco office with a focus in commercial real estate and data privacy matters. Nora handles eminent domain actions and real estate litigation involving purchase and sale, leaseholds, land-use litigation, as well as general commercial matters. She also advises clients regarding their compliance with federal and state privacy laws and security breach notification laws. Nora provides prompt and efficient legal service to public entities, healthcare entities and related businesses, educational institutions, retailers, commercial landlords and tenants, business owners, property owners, developers and public utilities on litigation matters involving eminent domain lawsuits, commercial real estate disputes, cybersecurity and privacy, and breach of contract claims . Nora has jury trial and mediation experience, as well as regulatory compliance experience in connection with state attorneys general and the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services. Nora has been designated as a Certified Information Privacy Professional, United States (CIPP/US) by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

Gail E. Kavanagh

Pronouns: she, her, hers Gail Kavanagh’s commercial litigation practice includes real estate title and contract disputes; eminent domain; commercial landlord-tenant matters; commercial tort actions; employment contract, discrimination and harassment actions; and trademark, copyright and trade secrets protection.

Cheryl L. Johnson-Hartwell, AWI-CH

Pronouns: she, her, hers Cheryl Johnson-Hartwell has successfully litigated over 800 disputes to conclusion. She has significant experience in federal and state court, with arbitration panels, and before federal and state administrative agencies. Cheryl provides clients with proactive strategies to manage litigation risk. She endeavors to obtain an early and cost-effective resolution for disputes and typically resolves them at or before the summary judgment phase. In those cases that proceed further, she has a record of obtaining favorable results for her clients. She also counsels employers on matters involving hiring, discipline and termination, and workplace policies. Her clients include automotive manufacturers, large-format retail, non-profit entities, security services, entertainment, manufacturing, furniture retail, and public-sector employers. Cheryl is an Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI) Certificate Holder. She conducts workplace investigations as a neutral fact-finder. Employers rely on her findings in order to make informed decisions on how to resolve internal workplace complaints.

Thomas D. Jex

Pronouns: he, him, his Thomas Jex is a partner with the firm and serves as the City Attorney for the City of Wildomar, Town Attorney for the Town of Yucca Valley, and provides special counsel services for the Jurupa Unified School District. Tom serves as a trusted advisor to public agency governing bodies, commissions, and staff on a wide array of municipal legal issues, including the Brown Act, Public Records Act, conflict of interest laws, planning and zoning laws, contracts, and constitutional issues, among others. He delivers advice to clients in a manner that is understandable and contains practical guidance that can be readily applied in the real world. Tom provides advice on both legal compliance and risk assessment, understanding that many situations faced by public agencies do not have clear cut answers. Tom regularly advises elected and appointed officials, navigating delicate issues with politically-divergent boards. He clearly presents the impacts of legal constraints on agency activities. Tom takes time to understand the agency’s long- and short-term goals and how the law affects those objectives, finding ways to achieve them whenever possible. He focuses on crafting legal advice that is practical and workable. Tom augments his practice by serving as a member of the Brown Act Committee of the League of California Cities - City Attorney's Department. He has served as an adjunct professor for the University of California Riverside Extension where he taught courses on the Public Records Act and Redevelopment Law. Tom lived for two years in Quito, Ecuador and is proficient in Spanish.

David J. Hyndman

Pronouns: he, him, his David Hyndman practices primarily in the area of commercial litigation, with a focus on construction disputes and related matters. He represents public and private entity clients in a variety of projects, including EPC contracting, construction management, public works projects, and other complex construction matters. His experience includes evaluating and resolving claims and disputes involving water processing plants, power plants, roadways, schools, hospitals, tunnels, and airports, among other issues. David also represents clients in commercial disputes and general litigation matters. During the course of his career, he has represented clients in jury trials, arbitrations, and mediations. David is admitted to practice in both California and Wisconsin. David also has significant experience in implementing efficient and effective procedures for managing pretrial discovery in complex cases. This has frequently included managing document intensive e-discovery and electronic database issues, including implementing cost effective protocols for the review and production of millions of paper and electronic documents, as required by and in compliance with current and evolving Federal and State rules.

Chad W. Herrington

Pronouns: he, him, his Chad Herrington provides advisory, transactional, and litigation services on a broad range of municipal law issues for cities, counties, and other public agencies throughout California. He currently serves as the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Eastvale and the Town of Yucca Valley, and as deputy City Attorney for the City of Rialto, City of Cathedral City, and City of Wildomar. He previously served as the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Piedmont and City of Rohnert Park. His practice includes advising city councils and staff in all areas of municipal law such as the public records act, open meeting laws, conflicts of interest laws, code enforcement, CEQA, public contracting and procurement, solid waste franchises, and land use and zoning. Chad regularly drafts and reviews resolutions, ordinances, and agreements for cities, advises planning departments, reviews environmental documents, and attends planning commission meetings and city council meetings. Chad also provides trainings on the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, and governmental ethics laws. In addition to his advisory practice, Chad’s other area of specialty includes municipal law litigation, with a focus on eminent domain, inverse condemnation, and property disputes. His litigation experience includes the successful representation of public entity clients at all stages of litigation, including trial and appeals. Chad is passionate about public law and has been working with public entities his entire career. Prior to joining Burke, Williams & Sorensen in 2012, Chad served as a graduate law clerk and attorney in the Alameda County Counsel's Office, and worked for a private firm representing school districts and community college districts in a variety of transactional and litigation matters.

Neil F. Yeager

Pronouns: he, him, his Neil Yeager has developed an extensive and diverse practice in the areas of business, finance, commercial, and real property law where he has gained expertise over the course of more than forty years of legal practice. His practice involves both private and public clients of the firm. He has represented client interests in a broad range of complex business, finance, and commercial matters, including contract negotiation, personal property secured transactions, securities law, municipal bond law, equipment leasing, and commercial loan transactions. He also has in-depth experience in a full array of real property transactions involving commercial and industrial leasing, ground leasing, real property acquisition and sale transactions, real property finance, construction lending, options, easements and licenses, and landlord and tenant representation. During the course of his career, Neil was continuously involved in advising Unified Grocers, Inc., one of the country's largest retailer-owned grocery wholesalers. He represented this client in acquisition and leasing transactions relating to retail supermarket locations throughout California and the west, including both the acquisition and leasing of existing locations and the construction and leasing of new locations. Neil had lead responsibility over the years in representing this client in the bulk acquisition and disposition of numerous supermarket locations which became available through divestitures connected with chain store mergers. Neil has also represented many other grocery and non-grocery industry clients in acquisition and leasing transactions, including stock and asset purchases and sales, facilities leases, and general business and contract matters. Neil's depth of experience has made him a valuable resource to the firm's many public entity clients. He serves as real property counsel to the firm's public clients regarding matters such as the acquisition of property for municipal facilities, parks and open space, and the leasing or other disposition of property for commercial development. Neil has also had extensive involvement in a variety of public finance matters involving the firm’s clients, including the issuance of municipal bonds.

John R. Yeh

Brian I. Hamblet

Pronouns: he, him, his Brian Hamblet is a partner at Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP with over 20 years of experience working with public agencies. Brian is the Senior Assistant City Attorney for the City of Simi Valley. He also provides advice to numerous public entities across the state, including Camarillo, Santa Clarita, Burbank, Rialto, and Lawndale. Brian’s interest in representing public entities began before graduating law school while he was a law clerk at a firm defending the cities of Beverly Hills and Ventura. Since then, Brian has developed a strong background in advising and defending governmental entities and their employees in a wide range of matters including the Public Records Act, conflict of interest laws, tort litigation, particularly premises liability, dangerous condition of public property, wrongful death, eminent domain, inverse condemnation, constitutional law, and civil rights litigation. Brian has also advised many municipalities regarding how to stay compliant with the Brown Act. Brian also serves as the City Prosecutor for numerous cities including Rosemead, Camarillo, and Santa Clarita where he successfully handles criminal litigation and prosecution of code enforcement matters. Serving in these capacities has given Brian a broad range of litigation experience which he continues to expand upon to successfully advise and represent his clients. As a litigator, Brian has also successfully litigated and tried cases to verdict for both public agencies and private clients in the areas of bodily injury, contract disputes, employment discrimination, products liability, motor vehicle warranty, toxic tort, and unfair business practices, as well as bankruptcy, preference and fraudulent transfer litigation. Brian received his B.A. in philosophy with a minor in business administration from UCLA in 1987. He graduated magna cum laude from Loyola Law School, in 2000 where he was ranked number one in his division and received numerous honors including the Order of the Coif, the Sayre MacNeil Scholars Award, the Dean’s Scholarship for Academic Excellence, the American Jurisprudence Award for Excellence in Ethical Lawyering, and First Honors Awards in 1st Amendment Law, as well as Initiative and Referendum Law. Brian was also appointed a member of the Order of the Coif, the St. Thomas More Law Honor Society, and Alpha Sigma Nu Honor Society and was an Editor on the Loyola Law Review. Brian has also lectured extensively for the City Attorneys Association of Los Angeles County (“CAALAC”) as well as the University of Southern California, Loyola Law School, and Mount Saint Mary’s College. Prior to becoming an attorney, Brian was an apprentice editor on the movie, Father of the Bride II.

Stephanie Gutierrez

Pronouns: she, her, hers Stephanie Gutierrez is an attorney at the Riverside office of Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP and is a member of the Public Law Practice Group and has a range of experience advising and representing public entities. Stephanie currently serves as Senior Assistant City Attorney for the City of Simi Valley, Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Temple City and California City, as Assistant General Counsel for the Banning Library District and the Central Basin Municipal Water District, as Deputy General Counsel for SunLine Transit Agency, and as Deputy City Attorney for the cities of Buellton, Cathedral City, Lawndale, Rialto, Wildomar, and Yucca Valley. Stephanie serves as counsel during city council and planning commission meetings, regularly advises on the Brown Act, the Political Reform Act, California conflict of interest law and the California Public Records Act. She attends Executive Team meetings, assisting in preparation of meeting agendas, and provides a wide array of trainings to local government officials ranging from zoning and land use regulations to AB 1234. Prior to joining Burke, Stephanie's practice concentrated on immigration law. Stephanie also worked for the San Bernardino County Counsel’s office where she advised the Assessor Recorder Clerk, the Land Use Services Department, and the Chief Administrator’s Office. Stephanie earned her Juris Doctor degree from University of La Verne College of Law. During law school, she served as a judicial extern for Associate Justice Carol D. Codrington of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, and was Editor in Chief of the Journal of Law Business and Ethics. She also received a Master of Public Administration degree from University of La Verne College of Business and Public Management.

Laurie N. Gustafson

Laurie Gustafson is an accomplished commercial real estate attorney with more than 25 years of experience. Laurie focuses her practice on complex real estate, finance and construction transactions. She assists clients, both private and public, with the acquisition and disposition of commercial real property, due diligence, financing, leasing, design and construction, development and management. She handles a wide range of projects including offices, corporate campuses, retail, restaurant, shopping centers, multi-family, industrial, rural, infrastructure and mixed use. Laurie has also represented numerous cities throughout California as special real estate counsel on real property acquisitions, dispositions and leasing. She has also assisted cities with the negotiation, documentation and closing on affordable housing projects. Laurie served as the Law Clerk to Chief Justice Edmond W. Burke of the Alaska Supreme Court from 1984-1985.

Samantha W. Zutler

Pronouns: she, her, hers Samantha Zutler is the City Attorney of the cities of Healdsburg and Capitola. Samantha serves as the Assistant City Attorney of Carmel-by-the-Sea and the Assistant Town Attorney of the Town of Tiburon. As City Attorney, Samantha advises on a wide range of general municipal law issues, including the Brown Act, conflicts of interest, and public records requests. She has also litigated writs challenging public records responses, constitutional challenges to land-use decisions, and contractual issues. Samantha also advises regarding general land use matters, CEQA, and constitutional issues. Samantha also maintains a specialty practice in labor and employment. She regularly defends claims of discrimination and harassment, wage and hour claims, and claims of wrongful discharge. She works with clients at all stages of the disciplinary process, from drafting and implementing new policies to defending employers in disciplinary appeals. Samantha has represented public and private sector clients in individual, collective, and class actions, and has extensive experience in litigating employment discrimination claims. Her clients include the City of Oakland, the City of Petaluma, the County of San Bernardino, and the County of Alameda. Samantha is frequently called upon to conduct training for employees, managers and elected officials throughout California on a variety of topics, including ethics for public officials, Brown Act, prevention of sexual harassment, and best management practices. Her experience ranges from conducting individual, one-on-one remedial trainings to group trainings for over two hundred employees. Her audiences have included engineers, maintenance workers, police officers, firefighters, attorneys, mid-level and senior management employees, human resources personnel, Boards of Directors, City Councils, and the most difficult audience possible – lawyers. Samantha lives in the bustling and vibrant city of San Francisco. She serves as a volunteer mediator for Community Boards, a nonprofit that provides mediators to the community.

Brian S. Ginter

Pronouns: he, him, his Brian Ginter is experienced in all phases of civil litigation from pre-lawsuit settlement negotiations and pre-judgment provisional relief through trial and appeal. He has obtained favorable results for clients at all stages of their dispute, including temporary restraining orders, writs of attachment, summary judgment, and verdict. Brian’s practice is concentrated in the areas of business litigation, employment law, and professional liability. Having had the benefit of working in litigation firms since he was admitted to the bar, and before that as a paralegal and law clerk, he is able to prosecute and defend a wide variety of cases, which have included allegations of fraud, mass tort, unfair competition, and breach of contract. Recently, he second-chaired a trial involving a breach of contract claim by a harbor terminal company against a defaulting tenant. The case also involved allegations by the defendant that the terminal company breached the contract and damaged the defendant’s oil trading business by approximately $30 million. After a bench trial, the defendant agreed to settle the case by paying the firm’s client over $5 million. Brian’s employment law experience involves claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination. He is frequently called upon to assist clients in difficult and sensitive cases of whistleblower retaliation or fraud and other criminal activity. Brian represented the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission in matters arising out of wide-ranging public corruption. The cases included claims against event promoters that paid more than $2 million to a person who was then employed by the Coliseum Commission. After approximately six years of litigation, which included a successful appeal to the California Court of Appeal and a parallel criminal prosecution, the defendants agreed to pay the Coliseum Commission $3.5 million. Other recent work includes representation of a public entity in defense of race discrimination allegations. The case resulted in a unanimous defense verdict after a two-week trial. In the professional liability arena, Brian has successfully represented lawyers, architects, and engineers involving claims of breach of contract, malpractice, conflicts of interest, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud. He has also litigated claims against these professionals as well as accountants when the professional’s service has caused injury to the client. Away from the office, Brian enjoys staying active in competitive sports. He is an avid baseball player. Along with his wife, he also races with the Vintage Auto Racing Association and other vintage auto racing organizations.

Algeria R. Ford

Pronouns: he, him, his Algeria Ford is a member of the Public Law, Labor and Employment, Litigation, and Education practice groups. Al currently serves as City Attorney for the City of Simi Valley, Assistant City Attorney for the City of Cathedral City and Assistant City Attorney for the City of Rialto. Al also serves as General Counsel for the Banning Library District, General Counsel for City of Simi Valley/Waterworks District No. 8, and Assistant General Counsel for the Sunline Transit Agency. In addition, Al serves as special counsel in the areas of police and employment law for the Hesperia Unified School District, the Val Verde Unified School District, and the Apple Valley Unified School District. Finally, Al provides special counsel labor and employment services to Fritts Ford Riverside. In the area of litigation, Al has extensive experience in the areas of labor and employment, civil rights, tort and premise liability, and code enforcement. Al has also handled appeals in the California Court of Appeal as well as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. In the public law arena, Al advises on Public Records Act and subpoena responses, Brown Act problems, Conflicts of Interest and Pitchess motions. Al’s practice also includes conducting independent internal investigations, serving as lead labor negotiator for public entity negotiations, advising and representing employers on discipline issues and during grievance procedures, drafting ordinances, and providing general advice to department heads, elected officials, and private employers. Al also has a robust training practice and routinely trains clients on emerging issues for public entities including in the law enforcement, employment law and records disclosure context. Prior to joining the firm, Al represented public sector clients while employed with the San Bernardino Office of County Counsel as a member of both the litigation and employment groups. In that capacity Al obtained successful results on various motions and as counsel in jury trials, assisted in drafting policies and rules, regularly advised on POBR issues, Internal Affairs Investigations and employment disputes, and represented the County before the Civil Service Commission. In addition, Al advised the Sheriff Department during federal investigations. Al previously worked as a Deputy District Attorney with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, where he prosecuted multiple cases to jury verdict. Prior to that he worked for the Louisville Metro Public Defender’s Office, obtaining successful results for clients at hearings and jury trial. During law School, Al was the Editor-in-Chief of two of the school’s three legal journals, was a member of the Moot Court Board, and served on the school’s National Trial and National Environmental Moot Court Teams. In addition, he won the School’s prestigious oral advocacy competition during his second year of law school and received honors for obtaining the highest grade in Advanced Constitutional Law, Advanced Trial Practice, and Criminal Procedure.

Nira F. Doherty

Pronouns: she, her, hers Nira Doherty is an experienced city attorney, litigator, and land use expert. Her litigation and transactional practices emphasize land use, CEQA, housing and government law issues. She serves as the City Attorney for the City of Menlo Park, General Counsel for the Tahoe Donner Association, and General Counsel for the Tahoe Transportation District. Nira represents dozens of cities and public agencies, as well as private landowners and developers on land use, zoning, CEQA and Subdivision Map Act matters. She represents clients in all phases of development including entitlement and administrative approvals, general plan updates, CEQA compliance and enforcement of zoning laws. Nira advises both private and public agency clients on State housing laws including Density Bonus Law, SB 35, Housing Accountability Act, SB 330 and ADU laws. She has negotiated and drafted development agreements and performed affordable housing diligence review. Nira has also overseen citizen initiatives from inception to election and represented cities in litigation regarding ballot measures. She has successfully served as lead attorney in litigation involving CEQA, general plan updates, inverse condemnation, contract disputes, health and safety receiverships, code enforcement matters, and tort claims. Nira graduated from UC Davis School of Law where she was a member of the UC Davis Law Review and Editor-in-Chief of the UC Davis Environmental Law and Policy Journal. Nira externed for the former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court, N. Dist. of California and clerked for Judge Steven Bernard of the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Kara L. DiBiasio

Kara DiBiasio is an accomplished trial lawyer, specializing in real estate, CEQA litigation, and eminent domain. Kara handles all types of real estate litigation, including common area disputes for residential, commercial and retail properties, enforcement of ECR, CC&R, and other restrictive covenants, disputes regarding development agreements, leases, purchase and sale agreements, and other breach of contract claims. Kara’s practice also encompasses commercial matters, including partnership and contract disputes. Kara has represented Fortune 500 companies, business owners, property owners, retailers, public utilities, public entities, private individuals, landlords and tenants in matters involving shopping centers, mixed use projects, industrial properties, residential properties, and master plan communities. Kara has successfully resolved cases for her clients through jury trials, motion practice, and settlement including mediation. Kara handles all aspects of litigation, including pre-lawsuit counseling, initial investigation, development and execution of strategic discovery plans, handling of complex e-discovery matters, and through depositions, motion practice, settlement discussions, ADR, trial preparation, and trial. Kara earned her J.D. from UC Davis, where she was a member of the Negotiations Honors Board, Moot Court Board, and winner of the 43rd Annual Neumiller Moot Court Competition. Kara graduated as a member of the Order of the Barristers for excellence in oral advocacy. During law school, Kara interned at the California Department of Justice in the Office of the Attorney General working in the Appeals, Writs and Trials division. Kara has continued her commitment to her alma mater as an Adjunct Professor at UC Davis, King Hall School of Law. Kara teaches law students practical skills they will use throughout their legal careers, including negotiation strategies and effective client interviewing and counseling. Kara earned her B.A. from California State University, Chico, where she studied political science and graduated summa cum laude. While studying at Chico State, Kara worked in a legal clinic, where she provided legal assistance to tenants and landlords in matters including habitability issues and unlawful detainers.

Sheila Delshad

Pronouns: she, her, hers Sheila Delshad represents clients in various labor and employment law matters. Her counseling practice focuses on discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour claims, independent contractor issues, employment contracts, due process, medical leaves and disability accommodation and public pension and health benefits. Sheila also has extensive experience counseling and assisting clients with internal reviews and revisions of employment policies and procedures, as well as conducting neutral investigations of workplace complaints. Sheila has served as lead labor negotiator for multiple collective bargaining agreements and continually advises employers on an array of labor relations matters such as the meet and confer process, grievances, discipline, layoffs, reorganizations and contracting out. Sheila’s litigation practice includes considerable work defending public agencies against class action claims of worker misclassification and discrimination. She has defended and counseled employers in matters involving both state and federal law, such as equal employment opportunity under Title VII, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disability Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the California Family Rights Act, the California Pregnancy Disability Leave Act and the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. While attending University of Southern California Law School, Sheila represented indigent clients with USC’s Immigration Law Clinic and with Bet Tzedek Legal Services. Sheila has also served as an extern to the United States Attorney's Office and as a law clerk to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Timothy L. Davis

Pronouns: he, him, his Timothy Davis is a partner in Burke, Williams & Sorensen's Silicon Valley office and is Chair of the firm's Labor and Employment Law practice group. Tim has tried to verdict employment cases in both federal and state court, and has conducted over 70 employment arbitrations. Tim routinely defends employers in litigation matters in actions involving state and federal law, such as Title VII, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, Americans with Disability Act, Age Discrimination and Employment Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, California Family Rights Act, California Pregnancy Disability Act, Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights, and wage and hour issues, including wage and hour class actions. He has represented employers in claims of wrongful termination, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of loyalty, unlawful interference with prospective economic advantage, unfair competition, and constitutional rights violations. His practice also includes the representation of employers before state, federal, and local administrative proceedings, including the Department of Labor, local civil service commissions, PERB, EEOC, and OSHA. Tim's reported decisions include Alhambra Police Officers Association v. City of Alhambra, (2003) 113 Cal.App.4th, 413. Tim also represents both public and private employers as a lead negotiator during collective bargaining with their employee groups, including police, fire, general employees, and management groups. Additionally, his practice includes internal investigations of employment complaints involving discrimination and harassment, as well as the presentation of seminars on how to prevent discrimination and harassment and investigate allegations of discrimination and harassment. He also trains human resources professionals and managers regarding proper investigation techniques. His practice includes development of personnel rules and policies including discipline and grievance procedures, and the investigation of grievances. He advises management clients on labor and employment law compliance matters. He has also served as legal advisor during grievance proceedings. Tim's commitment and experience in public law began in law school, where he co-authored the article, "Does a Public Law Attorney Owe a Duty to Third Parties?" which appeared in the Summer 1994 issue of the Public Law Journal.

Donald M. Davis

Pronouns: he, him, his Don Davis has provided contract city attorney and general counsel services to public agencies throughout California for over 25 years. He currently serves as the City Attorney for Rolling Hills Estates, Assistant City Attorney for the City of Camarillo, General Counsel for the Friant Water Authority, and General Counsel for the Bear Valley Community Services District. Don also provides special counsel services for numerous other Burke public entity clients. Don has considerable expertise in land use and planning having advised numerous planning commissions and city councils throughout his legal career. He regularly consults with city planning staffs on matters ranging from General Plan amendments to use permits. Don has drafted dozens of major zoning and land use ordinances. His land use practice emphasizes the regulation of matters that implicate federal and state rights of freedom of speech and expression such as signage, adult businesses, protests, and solicitation. Don enjoys governance issues and has extensive experience in the preparation and amendment of various governance documents such as joint exercise of powers agreements, joint powers authority bylaws, and memorandums of understanding between multiple agencies. Don is an authority on the Brown Act, Public Records Act, and other government transparency and ethics laws and is the firm’s principal instructor for AB 1234 ethics trainings. He has provided seminars around the state on these subjects, which have been attended by hundreds of public officials and staff members. He is the principal author of the Brown Act Compliance Manual and the Public Records Act Compliance Manual for the California Special Districts Association. Don is an advocate for the use of plain language in governmental documents and his writing seminars on the topic are popular with local government associations and agencies. Don regularly handles a broad range of real estate transactional matters for public agencies such as property acquisitions, financing, leasing, and dispositions. As part of such transactions, he provides advice on appraisals, title reports, legal descriptions, engineering, and survey issues. In the course of his practice, Don has assisted public and private clients in the purchase or sale of thousands of acres of property valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Don has drafted a variety of easement, license, and encroachment agreements with respect to both public and private uses and projects. Don has also worked on solar energy projects, including power purchase agreements. Don has significant experience with a wide variety of environmental issues including CEQA and NEPA. In working with the firm’s public and private clients, Don has handled all aspects of the CEQA/NEPA compliance process, including the hiring and management of project specialists in various environmental disciplines. He routinely provides advice and opinions on CEQA/NEPA compliance strategies, and has reviewed and commented on numerous CEQA/NEPA documents ranging from notices of preparation to mitigated negative declarations and environmental impact reports. Don is proficient in negotiating, drafting, and reviewing contacts for public agencies, including contracts for public works projects, maintenance, goods and services, consultants and professional services. Don is a strong proponent of plain language in public contracts, which should be readable and understandable to public agency staff and the general public – not just lawyers. Don regularly provides advice on a range of public finance matters such as Proposition 218 and 26, the adoption and adjustment of public fees, rates and charges (including sewer, water and solid waste rates), and has advised clients on the formation and oversight of assessment districts, community facilities districts, and other special financing mechanisms. As a litigator, Don has successfully defended public agencies in matters involving due process, equal protection, freedom of speech, government torts, inverse condemnation, public bidding and contract disputes, and writs of mandamus including CEQA suits. Don also has represented private clients in real estate, contract, and business-related litigation. Prior to becoming an attorney, Don served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Yemen and also worked as an international educational consultant.

J. David Darroch

Pronouns: he, him, his A partner with Burke, Williams & Sorensen LLP, David Darroch practices in the area of construction disputes, litigation and alternative dispute resolution. For the past 20 years, David has focused his practice primarily in the specialized field of construction law, construction litigation and construction-related issues. He represents public and private entities in the area of power engineering, infrastructure, transportation, wastewater, and industrial process engineering. David has extensive expertise counseling owners, construction firms, designers, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers regarding construction change management and project disputes. He has experience assisting clients with dispute resolution boards, mediations, and other informal dispute resolution methods and has extensive experience in prosecuting and defending claims and trying cases to verdict, including jury trials, court trials, arbitrations and appeals in construction matters large and small. David is admitted to practice in the State and Federal courts of California, and has been admitted pro hac vice in various other jurisdictions in the United States.

Douglas W. Dal Cielo

Douglas Dal Cielo specializes in general business litigation and family law. Areas of expertise include real estate, business torts, employment litigation, and corporate disputes. He possesses significant trial experience, including eight jury trials and over 15 court trials. Doug’s last two jury trials resulted in verdicts for his clients in excess of $12 million and $4.2 million on behalf of plaintiffs. He has taken over 300 depositions, and served as a court appointed arbitrator and mediator. Recent accomplishments include the settlement of a $5 million shareholder dispute on behalf of the minority shareholder, a $3.2 million wrongful termination and fraud claim on behalf of the plaintiffs, a $1.6 million mechanic’s lien foreclosure action on behalf of the claimant contractor, and a $12 million jury verdict on behalf of a plaintiff in an elder abuse claim in Santa Clara County.

Deirdre Joan Cox

Pronouns: she, her, hers For over twenty years, Deirdre Joan Cox has practiced in the construction and public contracting field. Joan's practice involves representing public agencies in complex construction matters, including strategizing development and procurement approaches, drafting construction documents, including performance and payment bonds and parent guarantees, advising clients during the course of construction, claims review and analysis, and claims resolution, including mediation, arbitration, and litigation. She assists in the resolution of issues that occur at the intersections between funding, design, acquisition, and construction. She serves as special counsel to a number of local agencies and general counsel for the Olivehurst Public Utility District. She has extensive litigation experience in state and federal court. Her efforts, from a project’s early stages through trial and beyond, allow public agencies to deliver public projects on time and on budget. Her experience includes multi-million dollar projects for cities, counties, and other municipalities, including hospitals, community college, school and special districts, and other commercial facilities in myriad bond funded projects, individual projects, and capital improvement programs. She has particular experience in lease revenue bond financing, Mello-Roos bonds, public private partnerships, and other financing mechanisms. Joan has extensive experience working with public entity clients to develop construction project manuals: “front-end” construction documents for all types of public works projects using delivery methods that involve competitive bidding utilizing lowest responsive, responsible bidding and “best value” concepts for traditional hard bid / design-bid-build, design-build, construction manager at risk, and lease-leaseback delivery mechanisms. She also drafts contracts for architects, engineers and other professionals. Her work includes preparing the project documentation including drafting, negotiation, structuring of delivery and procurement approaches and risk evaluation. She also assists public entity clients in administering the bidding process and facilitating the defense and handling of bid protests, subcontractor listing, project setup, and related issues that arise during the bidding / proposal process including attending hearings and assisting in preparing findings and conclusions. Joan also has experience in inverse condemnation and California land use, development and CEQA law, having represented both private and public entities in connection with flood control disputes, water rights, and environmental impact review/mitigated negative declaration issues. Joan received her J.D. with honors from Golden Gate University School of Law. She served as a Settlement Commissioner for the Alameda County Superior Court, a fee arbitrator and a private mediator. She taught contract law at East Bay Law School for ten years. She has also taught Public Finance and Law & Economics at Golden Gate University. Over the last 12 years, Joan served as the Planning Commissioner, Councilmember, and Mayor of the City of Sausalito.

Melissa M. Cowan

Pronouns: she, her, hers Melissa M. Cowan is a highly skilled litigator with decades of experience representing a broad spectrum of clients. She has achieved success for first-party insurers, third-party administrators, and employee benefit plans at national, state, and local levels. Her results – including two separate jury verdicts for punitive damages against fraudulent insureds – have contributed to the development of insurance law within the Ninth Circuit and California. Her broad expertise includes long-term care, disability, accident, life, health, critical care, and ERISA. Her practice also includes representation of public and private employers in discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour class action, and sexual abuse matters. Melissa combines her deep experience in investigating and uncovering fraud with her litigation expertise to advise and represent clients on fraud-related issues. She is accredited as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). As a veteran speaker at national and regional forums, Melissa strives for new ways to keep fraud, best practices, and industry issues reasonable and thought-provoking. Her special interests include fraud/false claims, “bad faith”, ERISA, litigation tactics, legal trends, and claims practices. Melissa serves on Burke’s Personnel Committee and co-leads the Insurance Practice Group. She is likewise an active member of the DEI Committee and Education Sub-Committee. When not working tirelessly for clients, Melissa enjoys adventures with her family, musical theater, and UCLA Bruin volleyball and basketball. Her views on life and the law are exemplified in the philosophies of the great UCLA Coach John Wooden, who said, “It takes time to create excellence. If it could be done quickly, more people would do it.”

Timothy Alan Colvig

Pronouns: he, him, his Timothy A. Colvig is recognized as an expert in the fields of insurance, environmental, and construction law. He has over 30 years of legal experience litigating and resolving disputes in a broad range of disciplines, including real estate, landlord-tenant, business transactions, unfair competition, corporate, and employment law matters.

Susan E. Coleman

Pronouns: she, her, hers Susan Coleman is a Partner at Burke, Williams & Sorensen LLP with 27 years litigation experience and a strong background in constitutional law/civil rights litigation and employment law. Susan has defended individuals and officials, governmental entities and corporations in 50 civil jury trials in federal and state courts throughout California, with very successful results (over 95% defense verdicts). Susan holds an Advocate status within the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Susan worked for the Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, for over 13 years. Since going to private practice, Susan has represented various entities such as the cities of Alhambra, Burbank, Hemet, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Modesto, Newport Beach, Pasadena, Simi Valley, Stockton and Riverside; the county of San Bernardino; the GEO Group; Management & Training Corporation; Alcohol Monitoring Systems Inc., the Bureau of Prisons, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and those entities’ individual employees and executives. Susan also has extensive experience with class action litigation, including several class actions on behalf of the Department of Corrections, and she represented the Board of Parole Hearings in a lengthy bench trial involving the Americans with Disabilities Act (Armstrong v. Davis). In the last few years, Susan has defeated class certification in cases for various clients. Susan has specialties in certain unique areas of law including officer-involved shootings and other uses of force, alleged wrongful conviction cases and ankle-monitor related litigation (for companies such as AMS, B.I. Inc., and LCA Inc.). She also conducts personnel investigations as needed for clients. Susan has consistently taken measures to ensure excellent representation of her clients in a cost-effective manner. For example, she recommends LVN review and summary of medical records (providing a medical expertise at a fraction of attorney billing rates); she keeps brief banks on common areas of law in order to avoid re-inventing the wheel for each case; and she takes every effort to eliminate defendants and/or claims from the case at the earliest opportunity, prevailing on many cases at the motion to dismiss or demurrer stage. While many cases cannot be defeated at the initial motion stage, Susan has had excellent results in prevailing in summary judgment and at trial. She is also in favor of, and actively pursues, measures to decrease future litigation, such as pursuing the award and recovery of costs after prevailing, having plaintiffs declared as vexatious litigants where appropriate, or seeking recovery of fees and costs under FRCP 41(d) for prior lawsuits when there are successive similar lawsuits. During law school, Susan served as Articles Editor for the Santa Clara Law Review. In addition, she held a clerkship for the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District for Justice J. Smith. After obtaining her J.D., Susan attended San Francisco State University’s Master’s in Tax program from 1994-1996, completing all but thesis.

J. Leah Castella

Pronouns: she, her, hers Leah Castella is a partner in Burke’s Oakland office. She received her J.D. with Honors from the University of Texas, Austin in 1999 and her B.A. in Philosophy from Lewis & Clark College in 1995. She currently serves as the General Counsel of Ironhouse Sanitary District, Valley of the Moon Water District, and Central Contra Costa Sanitary District and as the Assistant General Counsel for Union Sanitary District. As a seasoned public law lawyer, Leah is familiar with the full range of laws affecting California public agencies, including the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, the Political Reform Act, Proposition 218, and the Public Trust Doctrine. She has particular expertise advising public agencies on governance, rate setting, election law, and constitutional law. Leah is also an experienced litigator and appellate advocate. She has handled dozens of cases in state and federal court on behalf of public and private clients. And she has successfully argued over a dozen cases in the California Court of Appeals. Her areas of expertise include eminent domain, inverse condemnation, regulatory takings, municipal finance, government ethics and transparency, and constitutional challenges to local legislative enactments.

Fabio R. Cabezas

Pronouns: he, him, his Fabio R. Cabezas consistently brings an advocate’s skill, common sense judgment, and high energy to his practice. He takes pride in being a litigation attorney. He has taken matters from their start through trial and appeal. He has represented clients throughout California in the areas of real estate, business, insurance, intellectual property, and employment litigation for over twenty-five years. He has litigated cases in state and federal courts throughout California. He has argued cases before Appellate Courts in California and has litigated cases in Bankruptcy Courts in California.

Joseph P. Buchman

Pronouns: he, him, his Joseph Buchman maintains a diverse litigation and transactional practice, acts as general counsel to Montebello Land & Water Co., a mutual benefit non-profit water company, and as counsel to the Los Angeles Unified School District School Construction Bond Citizens' Oversight Committee. Joseph has extensive background in public, corporate, business, and real estate matters, acquired from years of experience representing and advising clients in bankruptcy matters, eminent domain, real estate and title litigation, purchase and sale transactions, financing transactions, probate and estate planning, tort litigation, collection actions, contract disputes, and election litigation.

Thomas B. Brown

Pronouns: he, him, his Thomas Brown has been with Burke since 2010. He served for eight years as the City Attorney for the City of St. Helena, and 12 years as the City Attorney for the City of Napa, prior to which he served as Senior Deputy City Attorney for the City of Berkeley. Tom represents public agency clients. His practice focuses on all aspects of municipal law. He has extensive experience advising clients and litigating in land use, zoning and planning, the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"), real property entitlements, police power, charter cities, municipal taxation, Brown Act, Public Records Act, code enforcement, intergovernmental relations, grand juries, elections, initiatives, and referenda. Tom has successfully litigated several cases involving issues under California’s open meetings law, the Brown Act. He has provided training under the Brown Act and the Public Records Act, including for the League of California Cities at its annual New Mayors and Councilmembers orientation meeting each January. Tom was a visiting professor at Sonoma State University where he taught "California Land Use Law." He is a past President of the City Attorneys Department of the League of California Cities.

Susan E. Bloch

Susan Bloch specializes in affordable housing, economic development, and transactional real estate matters. Susan has over 25 years of experience representing private and non-profit developers and public agencies, including cities, counties, housing authorities, and redevelopment successor agencies in transactions involving the acquisition, development, financing, leasing and sale of residential, commercial and industrial properties; and the development and implementation of affordable housing policies and programs. Susan has provided special counsel services on real estate and affordable housing transactions for Alameda County, Placer County, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority, the cities of Oakland, San Jose, Union City, San Leandro, Mountain View, Morgan Hill, San Carlos, Daly City, South San Francisco, Petaluma, Napa, Pleasanton, Redwood City, Dublin, Cathedral City, Rialto, Hemet, and Livermore, and other public entities including Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, Renewal Enterprise District, Sacramento Regional Transit District, East Bay Regional Parks District, the Transportation Agency of Monterey County, and the Moraga-Orinda Fire District. Her nonprofit clients include Veterans Housing Development Corporation, Christian Church Homes, YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley, the California Odd Fellows Foundation, and the Hilarita-Tiburon Ecumenical Association. Before beginning her practice as an attorney, Susan served as Program Manager with the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and as a consultant to the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation and the National Economic Development and Law Center. She has been a speaker at conferences and seminars sponsored by the League of California Cities, the California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), the Real Property Section of the California State Bar, the California Redevelopment Association, Housing California, the Northern California Association for Non-Profit Housing, California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED), the California Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (Cal-ALHFA), the Bay Area City Attorneys Association (BACA) and the City Attorneys Association of Los Angeles County (CAALAC). She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of California Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies since 2014.

Michael G. Biddle

Pronouns: he, him, his Michael brings nearly thirty years of experience to his practice advising public agencies on all matters of municipal law while emphasizing real estate acquisition, site remediation, land use, CEQA, land disposition and development, and redevelopment dissolution. Michael served the City of Emeryville as its City Attorney from 1994 through 2015, after serving as its Assistant City Attorney for the previous five years, and routinely advised elected and appointed officials, City management and staff on a broad range of issues relating to economic redevelopment, hazardous materials remediation, affordable housing, planning and zoning, public contracting, public art, public finance (taxes, impact fees, assessments), governance (Ralph M. Brown Act, Public Records Act, Political Reform Act), and elections. Michael was also responsible for the management of several site remediation projects undertaken by the City and its former Redevelopment Agency, as well as the City’s regulatory Brownfields Program in coordination with the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Michael is a member of the Post-Redevelopment Task Force organized by the City Attorney’s division of the League of California Cities to provide guidance to cities and successor agencies on redevelopment dissolution matters.

Michael B. Bernacchi

Michael Bernacchi is a trial attorney whose practice is devoted to both commercial litigation and defense of life, health, disability, and property/casualty insurance claims. He has engaged in civil litigation and trials in state and federal courts for over twenty years. He has tried or second-chaired numerous cases to a conclusion. His business litigation experience includes complex business disputes, including actions under Business and Professions Code §17200, and litigation involving Proposition 64. He specializes in defending bad faith and ERISA claims but also has experience in property and casualty cases and environmental coverage disputes, recently successfully litigating several such cases on behalf of Beneficial Fire and Casualty Insurance Company. Mike received his B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988 (cum laude in political science) and his J.D. degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles in 1992. While at Loyola, Mike was a note and comment editor for the Loyola Law Review.

Denise S. Bazzano

Pronouns: she, her, hers Denise Bazzano is a member of Burke’s Public Law Practice Group where she leverages her multi-faceted experience in municipal law and litigation to assist public entities in a variety of legal and regulatory matters. Denise regularly advises city councils, planning commissions, boards and staff on a wide range of both transactional and litigated matters including issues relating to code enforcement, cannabis regulation, contracts, land use, public works projects, animal control, purchasing, and liability exposure. Additionally, she provides regular advice regarding compliance with the Brown Act, the California and U.S. Constitutions, the Subdivision Map Act, and the Public Records Act. Denise also provides AB 1234 training as well as specialized training in the Public Records Act and other areas of public law. Denise also advises clients on a broad range of land use and planning matters, including advising public agencies on issues related to CEQA compliance, land use approval procedures, and processing of land use applications for both commercial and residential development projects. Denise also provides advice on real estate transactions and has experience drafting and negotiating purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, lease terminations, easements and development agreements. Denise has extensive experience in code enforcement issues and regularly advises city councils, commissions, and staff on the interpretation and application of administrative laws and procedures, zoning regulations, as well as criminal enforcement of municipal codes. Additionally, Denise advises clients on constitutional considerations relating to a public agency’s enforcement efforts. She has worked with several cities to develop programs relating to the regulation of special industries such as massage and cannabis. Due to Denise’s skills and experience, she is able to provide both advisory and litigation services to her clients on enforcement issues relating to blighted property and substandard buildings. For each of her clients, Denise works closely with staff to develop an enforcement strategy that complies with legal requirements and achieves the code enforcement goals of the client. Denise is currently a member of the League of California Cities Cannabis Regulation Committee.

Daphne M. Anneet, AWI-CH

Pronouns: she, her, hers Daphne Anneet is an experienced litigator, labor negotiator, and investigator. Daphne is Chair of the firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and Vice-Chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group. She has also served as a member of the firm’s Management Committee. A skilled litigator, Daphne has achieved excellent results for clients in state and federal court, as well as in arbitrations and administrative proceedings. She represents public and private entities in matters ranging from class actions, discrimination, harassment, whistleblower retaliation, wage and hour, worker misclassification, pension, civil rights, unfair labor practice disputes, false claims, and disciplinary appeals. As lead defense counsel in numerous class actions and complex litigation, Daphne has a proven track record of achieving successful results in a variety of creative and cost-effective ways. A graduate of the LA County Bar Association’s Trial Advocacy Project, Daphne has served as a pro bono prosecutor. Daphne serves as the lead negotiator for employers during collective bargaining. She has successfully negotiated challenging and sensitive issues such as contracting out of fire services and waste management services, salary and health benefit concessions, furloughs, layoffs, changes to retiree medical benefits, and changes to pension benefit formulas and contributions. Daphne also has experience representing employers during fact finding proceedings. As an investigator, Daphne has earned the distinction of Association of Workplace Investigators Certificate Holder (AWI-CH). She conducts independent investigations of complaints involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, workplace misconduct, and alleged conflicts of interest. She also enjoys training and has written and lectured on a wide array of employment issues for many organizations at their annual training conferences and conventions. In recent years, Daphne has taken on the role of General Counsel to local commissions. She serves as General Counsel to the City of Coronado’s Civil Service Commission. She has also served as General Counsel to the Simi Valley Disciplinary Appeal Board. A team builder and team player, Daphne brings together superior litigation skills and subject matter expertise within the firm to develop winning litigation strategies. Daphne thrives on developing a deep knowledge of the client, its mission, structure and governance, practices and culture, and expectations of defense counsel. Her success is rooted in her proactive approach and deep commitment to building strong relationships with every member of the defense team, providing regular client communication, and building consensus on the defense strategy. Daphne received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Southwestern Law School, where she was awarded the Outstanding Woman Legal Graduate Award. She has been honored to serve on Southwestern’s Board of Trustees. Daphne is a Past Executive Committee Member of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the LA County Bar Association, an affiliate member of CALPELRA, and a member of the Association of Workplace Investigators. She is a Past President of the National Association of Women Business Owners, LA Chapter. She has supported her local community as a soccer coach and member of the boards of AYSO - American Youth Soccer Organization and MHS Arts Angels.

Gregory R. Aker

Pronouns: he, him, his Gregory Aker specializes in the litigation and trial of complex business disputes. During his more than thirty years as an attorney, Greg’s litigation practice has included almost every major area of the law. Greg has represented clients in litigation involving business and commercial contract disputes, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, violation of state and federal securities laws, unfair competition, the protection of trade secrets, secured transactions and commercial law, real estate transactions and land use disputes, evictions and other landlord/tenant disputes, wrongful termination and employment discrimination. In the area of financial services litigation, Greg has handled cases involving commercial loans, bankruptcy claims, foreclosures, securities processing services, lender liability actions, deposit accounts, checks, wire transfers and other bank operations matters, the interpretation and enforcement of factoring agreements, and intercreditor agreements. Greg has handled major litigation involving a variety of construction projects nationwide, including courthouses, power plants, condominium developments, and hotels. He has represented construction contractors and project owners, as well as architects and engineers, in litigation, arbitration, and mediation.

Brian M. Affrunti

Pronouns: he, him, his Brian Affrunti has represented both private companies and public entities in a broad array of complex civil litigation matters. Brian has extensive experience representing clients in litigation in both federal and state courts in disputes involving real estate, employment, business disputes, intellectual property and products liability. During his fifteen year career, Brian has gained significant trial experience, having tried numerous jury cases, court trials and binding arbitrations. Brian also has considerable experience in trial preparation, discovery, and law and motion. Brian was recognized for his achievements in Moot Court while attending the University of California, Hastings.

Los Angeles

Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP

People ( Results)

Anthony E. Castillon-Mendoza

Frances E. Agoncillo

Brandon A. Sanchez

Jason A. James

Nicole Y. Blohm

Andrew T. Magaline

John E. Bauman III

Alena Shamos

Joanna Kwong

Michael W. Barrett

Jackson D. Morgus

Evan Louis Miller

Karin A. Schambeck

Paul A. Aguilar

Briana D. Williams

Blithe S. Bock

Davin A. Widgerow

Deann R. Rivard

Nathan D. Andersen

Michaela Battista Sozio

Tiffiny M. Fox

Alexandra Mulhall

Zachery A. Lopes

Marc Barraza Tran

Alan M. Cohen

Anna G. Barker

Solange Z. Fortenbach

Caitlin R. Eliason

Maria Akopyan

Lee Burdick

Victor M. Ponto

Ephraim S. Margolin

Veronica Gray

Robert C. Chojnacki

Viviano E. Aguilar

Lisa N. Maxwell

Robin M. Pearson

Iudis “Dasha” Sominskaia

Elise L. Bonine

Colleen L. Cleary

Tyler K. Marsten

Andrew R. Bogard

Kevin P. McCarthy

Craig A. Kisylia

Bryce D. Carroll

Danielle E. Potestio

Lyndon Y. Chee

Christopher E. Brumfiel

Michelle H. Le

Elaine Kobylecki

Allison B. Hernandez

Ghazaleh Modarresi

Mariam Sleiman

Timothy E. Campen

Karl H. Berger

Vanessa M. Hooker

Eileen L. Ollivier

Justin A. Tamayo

Connor T. MacLean

Jean M. Kim

Karen A. Lee

Danica J. Brustkern

Caylin W. Jones

Jasper L. Hall

Brenda Aguilar-Guerrero

Krishan S. Chopra

Donald V. Le

Meghan E. Nihan

Lisa W. Lee, AWI-CH

Mark E. Wilson

Natalie F. Price

Robert F. Messinger

Rachel E. Balchum

Leila Moshref-Danesh

Mary Anne Wagner

Kristen S. Steinke

Kate S. Im