Speakers
Roxanne Anderson
Senior Counsel
Visa Inc.
Biography
Roxanne Anderson is Senior Counsel at Visa, where she is a demonstrated legal leader in payments. As a member of Visa’s Global Privacy Office, she has helped build Visa’s privacy program, and is a strategic business partner who champions creative, yet pragmatic solutions. Prior to joining the Global Privacy Office, Roxanne was a thought leader on Visa’s Legal Center of Excellence where she developed best practices on key legal issues, and collaborated with stakeholders around the world.
Roxanne is co-chair of Visa’s Legal Inclusion & Diversity Committee, where she focuses on developing and managing programs to recruit, retain and promote diverse Legal talent.
Roxanne earned her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and received her B.A. with honors from the University of California, Berkeley.
Afia Asamoah
Head of Legal
Google Health
Biography
Throughout her career, Afia has worked at the intersection of technology and health, and in 2014, she joined Google to advise teams developing medical software and AI technologies. Afia is currently the Head of Legal for the health business unit of Google, where she leads a team of legal professionals who support Google’s healthcare strategy. She is recognized as a leader and digital health innovator — in 2020, Afia was named “one of the 10 most influential minority healthcare executives” by FierceHealthcare.
Prior to Google, Afia served as Special Assistant in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner’s Office during the first two years of the Obama Administration. Afia received the FDA’s highest award, the FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation “for strong leadership and innovative management of the FDA Transparency Initiative and Task Force.”
Afia received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, her Masters of Public Policy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and her BA from Harvard University.
Cortney Beasley, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist and Founder
Put In Black
Biography
Dr. Cortney Beasley is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and the founder of Put In Black, a platform designed to help improve Black communities’ access to health information. She received her Doctor of Psychology degree from the joint program between Stanford University and the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, and completed her pre-doctoral internship at The Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology, at Boston Medical Center, and the Boston University School of Medicine.
Throughout her career, she has focused on learning and sharing information that directly affects Black communities across the nation, as well as gaining insight into positively influencing the healthcare and justice systems in the U.S. She is committed to demystifying the practice of psychology and reminding people of their innate power and ability to care for themselves.
Hon. Shelyna V. Brown
Santa Clara County
Superior Court of California
Biography
From a young age, growing up in a marginalized community, Shelyna V. Brown saw first-hand the challenges and obstacles that those with similar backgrounds encountered in society. She came to the realization that in order to change the outcome, one had to have a place and a voice at the table.
Judge Brown received her bachelor of arts from University of California, Davis and her juris doctorate from Santa Clara University, School of Law. Upon graduating from law school, Judge Brown served as a public defender fighting for all those who did not traditionally have a voice or access to their constitutional right of appropriate representation. In 2011, California Governor Jerry Brown appointed Shelyna V. Brown to the bench in Santa Clara County.
Judge Brown uses her two decades of experience in the legal and leadership arenas and her uncommon perspective as a superior court judge, certified mediator, entrepreneur, and master coach to inspire and equip individuals to meet and rise above all of life’s challenges.
Kori S. Carew, Esq.
Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer
Seyfarth Shaw, LLP
Biography
Kori S. Carew, Esq., an attorney, TedX speaker, and community builder who generates awareness and understanding of critical human issues by creating the space and climate for open dialogue that is meaningful, enables people to expand their perspective and drive positive change.
With grace and truth, she is a disruptor, womanist and social justice advocate. With a multi-national, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual family background, she brings a keen sensitivity to belonging and inclusion across differences and creating space for the under-represented. Kori questions barriers that divide communities and hold back individual potential, and at the center of her perspectives and passion is her faith.
Kori is the Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer at Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, an international AmLaw 100 firm and before that served as the Director of Strategic Diversity Initiatives for 7 years Shook Hardy, & Bacon LLP, leading all efforts related to the firm’s primary diversity and inclusion drivers of excellence, education and equity across 12 offices. She uses an innovative and proactive approach to tackling diversity and inclusion by embracing inclusive talent management, inclusive leadership development and assessing and interrupting systems.
Using advocacy and organizational strategy to address structural barriers to diversity in the workplace, she brings an incisive voice, unapologetic questioning of the status quo, and a lifelong fascination of human potential to empowering women and marginalized people and improving inclusion. She is a nationally sought-after speaker on topics of diversity, inclusion and belonging, inclusive leadership, talent engagement and development, authenticity and leveraging power.
Kori’s drive toward redefining the circle of belonging and restoring authenticity fuels her work in the marketplace as well as in her community. She is wife to Gary and mother to two spit-fire curly wild haired strong willed daughters, Riley and Samarah. Her TedX, Just belonging: finding the courage to interrupt bias can be found here.
Valerie Castelo
Associate Director
UC Berkeley School of Law
Biography
Valerie Castelo is an Associate Director for Private Sector Programs and Counseling in the Career Development Office at UC Berkeley School of Law. She works with J.D. students and alumni on their professional development and private sector job searches. She also organizes career-related programs and has helped plan regional JD Advantage Career Fairs with colleagues from the other Northern California law schools.
Prior to joining the CDO, Valerie worked as a litigation associate in the Palo Alto office of Cooley and as an educator in the Oakland Unified School District. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Political Science from UC Berkeley in 2002 and her J.D. from Stanford Law in 2006.
Jessica Chu
Senior Counsel
Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP
Biography
Jessica Chu is a senior counsel in our Los Angeles office practicing in the firm’s Corporate, Tax, and Joint Ventures groups. Her practice focuses on structuring, negotiating and documenting complex joint ventures and business transactions for equity investors, financial institutions, developers, and others. Jessica has counseled clients regarding joint ventures and transactions covering a broad range of real property types, including undeveloped land, industrial, master-planned communities, hotels and resorts, commercial office, retail projects, shopping centers, and mixed-use projects. Jessica assists clients in all phases of joint ventures, including formation, operation, restructuring, partner disputes, and wind-down.
In addition, Jessica has experience in a broad range of income taxation matters relating to real estate transactions, including debt and equity restructurings, 1031 transactions, and divestitures. She also advises clients on California real property and transfer tax issues.
Jessica has spent time in-house at a global alternative investment management firm working in the tax department of their private equity arm. This experience gives her a unique client-side perspective when approaching deals. Prior to joining Allen Matkins, Jessica was an associate in the transaction advisory services (M&A) group of a Big 4 accounting firm in Los Angeles. Jessica is proficient in Mandarin Chinese.
Sabina Clorfeine
Assistant General Counsel
Southern California Gas Company
Biography
Sabina Clorfeine is Assistant General Counsel-Special Counsel leading the internal team and outside counsel teams regarding all legal matters related to a high-profile incident at Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas). Prior to this role, she was Assistant General Counsel – Regulatory for SoCalGas. Prior to joining SoCalGas, she was Managing Attorney at Sempra Energy where she handled complex litigation and provided advice relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Before joining Sempra Energy, Ms. Clorfeine was a complex business litigator at Milbank. During the ten years Ms. Clorfeine spent in private law firm practice she had first chair trial experience in both state and federal court.
Ms. Clorfeine was recently honored as the 2020 Leader in Law for a publicly traded company by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Theresa Conduah
Partner
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Biography
Theresa Conduah is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the Orange County office of Haynes and Boone, LLP. Theresa counsels both Fortune 500 and startup clients in the technology, financial services, entertainment and sports industries about IP prosecution and enforcement matters. Prior to returning to private practice, she served as an in-housel IP counsel at United Airlines, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. and, most recently, at dosist, a health and wellness company. Theresa is a frequent speaker on intellectual property, brand protection, and diversity in the law issues.
Prior to attending law school, Theresa worked for a clinical research organization and received a Master of Public Health degree from John Hopkins University.
Coré S. Cotton
Assistant General Counsel Wells Fargo
Author, Life Coach,
Grammy-Winning Artist
Biography
Coré S. Cotton is an assistant general counsel and senior vice president in the Wells Fargo Legal Department. She heads the legal teams that support third party contracts and global delivery and transition activities for Wells Fargo and is a DE&I executive.
Coré is also an author, life coach and Grammy-winning performing artist, formerly of the Sounds of Blackness. Her signature event is her proprietary one-woman show titled, A Woman Evolves.
Coré received her B.A. degree from Howard University and her J.D. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. She is an active member of several legal diverse organizations; serves on multiple community and academic boards; and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
Marissa Dennis
Partner
Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP
Biography
Marissa is a litigation partner at Allen Matkins, where she focuses on real estate and business litigation. An experienced trial attorney, she recently defended her client in a successful two-week jury trial against a $200M defective product action, which was featured in the Daily Journal’s “Top Verdicts.”
Marissa also serves as the Operating Partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office and co-chairs the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. She has been named to Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Top Litigators and Trial Lawyers in Los Angeles” (2019), “Most Influential Minority Attorneys in Los Angeles” (2018, 2019, 2021), “Most Influential Women Attorneys in Los Angeles” (2018), and “Women of Influence – Attorneys” (2021). Marissa is proud to serve as a co-chair of the Board of Directors of the California Minority Counsel Program.
Camille Hamilton Pating
Principal
Meyers Nave, P.C.
Biography
Camille Hamilton Pating is Chair of Meyers Nave’s Labor & Employment Practice and Workplace Investigations Practice. She counsels employers on a broad range of issues, from political speech on work platforms to reasonable accommodation. Camille is a go-to independent attorney fact-finder for high-profile investigations involving elected officials, C-suite executives and leaders of nonprofits. She defends employers in litigation, arbitrations and disciplinary hearings and appeals. Camille develops and leads innovative training programs on bias prevention, investigation best practices and state and federal anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws. She is a thought leader in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
Monique D. Jewett-Brewster
Shareholder
Hopkins & Carley
Biography
Monique D. Jewett-Brewster is a shareholder with the law firm of Hopkins & Carley in San Jose, and co-chairs the firm’s Financial Institutions and Creditors Rights practice group and Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Monique advises creditors in business bankruptcies and in all other aspects of insolvency law, with a primary focus on representing secured and unsecured creditors in the restructuring and enforcement of complex loan and other commercial transactions in state, district, appellate and bankruptcy courts nationwide. Her clients include financial institutions, credit unions, private lenders, receivers, commercial landlords and tenants, and purchasers of assets out of bankruptcy. She also counsels a metropolitan municipality in its bankruptcy matters.
Monique served as the 2018-19 Chair of the Business Law Section of the California Lawyers Association (CLA, formerly the Sections of the State Bar of California), the largest statewide voluntary bar association in the United States. Monique served as Co-Chair of the Insolvency Law Committee of the Business Law Section and is a past member of the Northern District of California Bankruptcy Court’s Bench Bar Liaison Committee and a past Director of the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum. She is the current Co-Chair of the CLA’s Diversity Outreach Committee, which works to improve diversity in the legal profession through mentoring and student outreach.
Monique has presented for the CLA Business Law Section, Bar Association of San Francisco, Alameda County Bar Association, California Bankers Association, Western Bankers Association, Tennessee Bar Association and other organizations. She also authored a chapter on the impact of bankruptcy on real property title and sales included in the Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB)’s Real Property Ownership and Taxation practice guide. Monique also is a contributing author to Westlaw’s Commercial Finance Newsletter as a member of the CLA Business Law Section’s ad hoc authors committee.
Prior to private practice, Monique served as law clerk to the Honorable Meredith A. Jury (Ret.) in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. Monique also served as a judicial extern for the Hon. Alan M. Ahart (Ret.), Hon. Ellen Carroll (Ret.), and former judge Kathleen P. March, also in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. She received her J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School in 2001 and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of San Francisco, where she majored in Politics and minored in Japanese.
Cynthia Juarez Lange
Senior Counsel
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP
Biography
Cynthia provides strategic immigration counsel to global organizations, ranging from large Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups.” She has spent years managing worldwide immigration compliance programs.
Cynthia served as a member of Fragomen’s Worldwide Executive Committee, Managing Partner of the firm’s Northern California practice and I-9 Service Center. Cynthia joined Fragomen more than 34 years ago after starting her career at the U.S. Department of Justice as an INS trial attorney in the Attorney General Honors Program. Cynthia was a longtime Adjunct Professor at Southwestern University School of Law, where she taught for 18 years. She also frequently lectures on corporate immigration, and is a thought leader in the industry.
Cynthia is passionate about pro bono work. She has been a board member of both the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the nation’s leading organization dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of low-income immigrants in the U.S., and the NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF).
Cynthia has received numerous awards and recognitions including Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, Who’s Who Legal, Super Lawyers, and is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
Miriam Kim
Partner
Munger, Tolles &
Olson LLP
Biography
Miriam Kim is a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson. Her practice focuses on complex civil and criminal litigation and investigations, with a particular emphasis on trade secret matters, marketing and false advertising claims, and technology disputes. Named a Top Trade Secrets Lawyer, a Women, Influence & Power in Law, and a Best Lawyer Under 40, Ms. Kim’s representative clients include Intel, Applied Materials, Lyft, Checkr, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
Ms. Kim is a leader in the community. She is a member and past co-chair of the Northern District of California’s Lawyer Representative Committee, past president of the Asian American Bar Association, and former director of the Bar Association of San Francisco and the Justice and Diversity Center. She lives in Alameda with her husband and two sons.
Natalia Merluzzi
Product Policy Senior Manager
YouTube
Biography
Natalia works at YouTube where she is a Product Policy Senior Manager, overseeing the business’ global regulatory portfolio. Before joining YouTube, she was the Director of Public Policy for Airbnb’s new business, Experiences. During the Obama Administration, Natalia worked at the White House, where she served as a senior advisor for the National Economic Council and the Domestic Policy Council. She also served as counselor to former Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez and special assistant to former Associate Attorney General Tony West. Prior to working for the federal government, Natalia was the Racial Justice Project Fellow at the ACLU of Northern California. She began her career as a litigation associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP. Natalia is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Kamili Moreland
Chief Legal & People Officer
AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah
Biography
Kamili Moreland is AAA NCNU’s Chief Legal & People Officer. She is responsible for managing litigation and compliance issues, overseeing the club’s Human Resources, Diversity & Inclusion, Learning & Development, and Corporate Communications departments. She is also charged with supporting and advising AAA NCNU Board of Directors and Executive management on matters of corporate governance. Kamili was named one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Businesses (2020) by the San Francisco Business Times.
Jennifer Salinas
Executive Director, General Counsel of Infrastructure Solutions Group & Head of Global Litigation
Lenovo
Biography
I am a senior executive and the General Counsel for the Lenovo Data Center Group. I am also the global head of litigation for all Lenovo business units. Lenovo is the largest PC company worldwide.
At Lenovo, a public company with $50B+ revenue and headquarters in both Beijing, China and Morrisville, North Carolina, I serve on the senior legal leadership team, report directly to the Chief Legal Officer and support the board of directors and audit committee. In addition, I am currently serving as a board member of Batholith, a private company.
As General Counsel of the Infrastructure Solutions Group (“ISG” FKA Data Center Group), my expertise includes M&A due diligence, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, brand protection, contract negotiations, compliance, insurance recoveries and review of SEC disclosure documents, and I have extensive experience in intellectual property portfolio management and negotiating intellectual property licensing agreements. ISG’s annual revenue is $5B+. As the head of litigation globally, I lead and oversee litigation strategy for intellectual property, corporate securities, labor & employment, product liability, and class actions, across three business groups and all business lines.
Leveraging my prior roles as a former equity partner and first chair trial patent litigator at two AmLaw 100 firms, I also lead multiple teams of up to 80 in-house and outside counsel across the U.S., Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Highly valued as a mentor and sponsor of legal talent who attracts and retains diverse, high-performance teams, I am an executive sponsors and a board member of Lenovo’s enterprise-wide Hispanic employee resource group, Hispanics of Lenovo Association. I am committed to creating and supporting diverse talent pipelines and, from 2018-2019, served as the National President of the Hispanic National Bar Association.
Claudia Sanchez Wilson
VP, Legal and Head of Litigation
Zynga Inc.
Biography
Claudia Sanchez Wilson is VP, Legal and Head of Litigation at Zynga Inc., where she manages all aspects of litigation, as well as serving as a Chief Compliance Officer. Before joining Zynga, Ms. Sanchez Wilson was in-house litigation counsel at Tesla, Inc. and at SolarCity Corporation. She has also worked as a federal judicial clerk for the Hon. Phyllis J. Hamilton, and at the law firms of Seyfarth Shaw LLP and Bingham McCutchen LLP.
Women of Color and Session Facilitators
(also see Planning Committee)
Audrea Golding
Partner
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP
Biography
Audrea joined Fragomen in 2000 and worked in our Los Angeles office from 2000 to 2014 and our Toronto office from 2014 to 2019. Currently, Audrea is a partner in our firm’s Silicon Valley office and represents multinational corporations in the information technology, engineering, financial services and professional services industries, managing the transfer of their employees and executives and supporting their global mobility programs. She has extensive experience with a wide variety of U.S. and Canadian employment-based temporary and permanent visa categories, immigration compliance matters, family-based permanent residence applications and applications for citizenship. Audrea also provides expertise to individual and corporate clients with their U.S.-Canada cross-border immigration matters.
Audrea’s practice also involves assisting individual entertainers, artists and athletes as well as production companies and athletic organizations in securing visas for foreign talent to perform and work in the U.S. and Canada. She has worked with a wide range of talent in the music industry, including award winning musicians, creative producers, lighting designers, music rights advocates and others to obtain work visas and permanent residence based on their extraordinary ability. She has also worked with athletes and national athletic organizations in a variety of sports to obtain work visas, permanent residence and citizenship in the U.S. and Canada. She regularly speaks to industry groups and legal and business organizations on immigration law and procedure.
Audrea serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Diversity & Inclusion Committee, which provides guidance and makes recommendations to actively enhance diversity, inclusion and belonging throughout the firm.
Audrea speaks English, French and German.
Jenine E. Hinkle
Counsel
American Honda Motor Company, Inc.
Biography
Jenine E. Hinkle serves as Counsel for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. in Torrance, California, where her practice focuses on commercial transactions; dealer franchise matters (transactional & litigation); and marketing & advertising. Previously, Jenine was an associate in the Chicago and San Francisco offices of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, where she focused on domestic and international franchising and commercial transactions. Prior to private practice, Jenine was a contract attorney for BP, where she handled marketing and advertising, franchise, real estate, and commercial contracts for BP’s retail gas stations and convenience stores. Jenine served as a California Minority Counsel Program (CMCP) Ambassador from 2018 to 2021.
Jenine received her B.A. in English Literature from U.C. Irvine in 2002, and her J.D. from USC Gould School of Law in 2006.
Natassia Kwan
Deputy City Attorney
San Francisco City Attorney’s Office
Biography
Natassia Kwan is a Deputy City Attorney on the Trial Team at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. In her role, she defends San Francisco in all stages of civil litigation. Prior to her current position, Natassia was a product liability litigator at Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Natassia was recognized by the American Bar Association as a “Top 40 Young Lawyer- On the Rise” in 2018. In 2020, Natassia served as the Chair of the California Minority Counsel Program’s Ambassadors Council. Natassia holds a B.A. and B.B.A Business and Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, and a J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law. Natassia derives great joy from the CMCP community, mentoring new attorneys and law students, and spending time with her young daughter.
Pamela Lujan
Director, Legal Counsel
Oportun
Biography
Pamela Lujan is a Director in the corporate legal team at Oportun. In her current role, she focuses on corporate and securities law matters, including equity and debt security offerings, financings, and periodic reporting and disclosure matters.
Pamela is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion and serves as the co-chair for Oportun’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Council and co-founded the company’s Hispanic/Latinx employee resource group. Pamela is actively involved in the legal and technology community and currently serves on the board of Latinas in Tech, a nonprofit organization based in Silicon Valley. She also previously served on the board of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association.
Jennifer Martinez
Partner
Hanson Bridgett LLP
Biography
In January 2021, Jennifer was appointed Hanson Bridgett’s first Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer. She also currently serves as Chair of the firm’s RACE (Real Action Calling for Equality) Task Force, and Chair of the firm’s Recruiting Committee.
In her legal practice, Jennifer represents private and public employers in federal and state court litigation and before administrative agencies regarding discrimination (including race, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, and disability), harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, wrongful termination, and numerous other types of employment law matters. Jennifer also handles complex wage and hour class action litigation (including off-the-clock claims, meal and rest period violations, exempt misclassification, and contractor misclassification) in both federal and state courts, as well as other representative and collective actions under the California Private Attorneys General Act and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Jennifer also has trial and arbitration experience, including second chairing a state court jury trial, obtaining a complete defense verdict for her client on a claim of disability discrimination and failure to accommodate.
In addition to her litigation practice, Jennifer counsels employers on a wide variety of employment issues, such as hiring practices, employment policies, disability accommodations and leave administration, employee and contractor classification issues, employment contracts, enforceability of covenants not to compete, leaves of absence, terminations, and reductions in force. She specializes, in particular, in advising start-ups, early stage companies, and technology companies. In addition to general advice and counseling, Jennifer handles sensitive harassment and whistleblower investigations.
Jennifer also has considerable merger and acquisition experience, assisting clients in structuring corporate transactions to minimize employment-related risks and maximize the value of the transaction from an employment perspective. Jennifer assists clients with post-transaction issues as well, including integration, policy compliance, employee leveling, and restructuring.
Prior to joining Hanson Bridgett, Jennifer practiced in the employment litigation and employee mobility practices at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto.
Juliette Stancil
Senior Privacy Counsel
Intuit Inc.
Biography
Juliette Stancil (she/her/hers) is currently privacy counsel with Intuit where she supports the organization’s innovation efforts by advising on laws and regulations related to the collection and use of personal data in the US and abroad. Juliette joined Intuit in November 2019 from iRthythm Technologies, a medical device company, where she served as corporate counsel. Juliette has spent the majority of her career in healthcare, serving as privacy and compliance officer, and counsel for several companies.
Juliette received her bachelors from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, her Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas Little Rock W.H. Bowen School of Law, and a master of law (LL.M) in Health Law from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She also holds certifications in healthcare compliance (CHC), healthcare privacy compliance (CHPC), and as an information privacy professional (CIPP/US).
Marie Guadalupe (“Lupe”) Valencia
Associate General Counsel
Snap Inc.
Biography
Lupe is Associate General Counsel on the Employment Law Team of Snap Inc. (“Snap”), creator of the Snapchat camera app and owner of the Bitmoji avatar app. Lupe joined Snap’s legal team in November 2018 and is based in Snap’s headquarters located in Santa Monica, California.
Lupe works as a key stakeholder with Snap’s Employee Relations and Employment Compliance groups, by providing legal counsel in complex labor and employment issues. She also partners with corporate human resources professionals in the design, implementation and maintenance of a broad range of personnel-related functions, such as enterprise payroll practices, recruiting policies, employee handbook policies, leave of absence programs, incentive compensation administration, and day-to-day advice and counsel pertaining to internal investigations, performance management, time and attendance issues, and reasonable accommodations under the Americans With Disabilities Act and equivalent state laws.
Prior to Snap, Lupe practiced 22 years as Senior Counsel for Wells Fargo & Co.’s Employment Law Section in Los Angeles. Lupe provided labor and employment advice to Wells Fargo’s human resource officers, managers, recruiters, EEO officers, and personnel administrators across the U.S. Lupe was a trusted legal advisor in handling a broad range of employment issues, including administration of Family & Medical Leave policies, compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, responses to performance issues raised by medical disabilities and work-related injuries, internal investigations, discrimination, sexual harassment, wage and hours laws. Lupe also managed employment-related litigation and wage and hour class action and collective action lawsuits. Lupe was responsible for legal strategy and litigation defense in Wells Fargo’s victory in the Canales vs. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. class action lawsuit, where the California court of appeal held that Section 206 of the Labor Code does not require employers to provide a final wage statement to employees at the same time as the final paycheck.
Before joining Wells Fargo in September 1996, Lupe was an associate with the firm of Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon, where her practice focused on defense work in employment litigation. Lupe has also conducted management training sessions on litigation prevention, discharge documentation, sexual harassment sensitivity training, and disability management.
EDUCATION:
Lupe received her Juris Doctorate degree in 1989 from U.C. Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. She earned a Masters degree in Public Administration, and a Bachelor degree in Business Administration, both from Loyola Marymount University. Lupe is a member of the California State Bar and the State Bar Employment Law section.