ATLANTA, January 23, 2018 –Constangy, Brooks, Smith and Prophete, LLP is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in Orange County and to welcome seven new attorneys, furthering its California presence and extending the national labor and employment law firm’s network to 30 offices across 15 states.
The first partner to join the Orange County office is Carolyn Sieve, who comes to Constangy from Ogletree Deakins. Bringing more than 20 years of experience as a business and employment litigator, Sieve represents management in state- and federal-court litigation involving discrimination, retaliation, and harassment claims, alleged wage-and-hour violations, and trade secret disputes. She also provides advice to in-house counsel, human resources personnel, and management on a wide variety of topics, including restrictive covenants in employment agreements, interactive process, and wage-and-hour compliance. Before she became a litigator, Sieve clerked for the Honorable Thomas Tang of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She is an active member of the Los Angeles and Orange County Bar Associations and has previously served on the Board of Governors for the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and the Philippine American Bar Association. Sieve is also a founding member and Treasurer of the Filipino-American Lawyers of Orange County.
The firm’s rapidly growing California team also welcomes a new partner and associate in its San Francisco office, which opened in January 2017. Sarah Robertson joins the firm as partner, after serving as chair of the employment practice group at the Oakland firm Donahue Fitzgerald. A highly-experienced litigator, Robertson focuses her practice on the defense of discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, as well as claims relating to medical leave issues. In addition, Sarah litigates actions relating to wage and hour issues, unfair competition and misappropriation of trade secrets. She serves on the executive committee of the Alameda County Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Section, and is an adjunct professor at Tulane Law School. She is joined in the San Francisco office by new associate Christin Lawler, who comes to Constangy from Hirschfeld Kraemer.
Constangy’s Los Angeles office also continues its aggressive growth, moving into larger offices and welcoming four new attorneys. Sayaka Karitani has joined the firm as senior counsel, coming from Hirschfeld Kraemer and bringing a strong focus on complex wage and hour class, collective and PAGA actions. Jonathan Stein is also joining the firm as senior counsel, after spending more than 20 years in private practice. Senior counsel Thy Bui and associate Lisa Yumi Mitchell also recently joined the firm, coming from LTL Attorneys LLP.
According to Ken Sulzer, who leads Constangy’s California practice, “clients are looking for very smart attorneys who not only understand the complex realities of California employment law, but who also have practical business sense and mirror the diversity of California’s workplaces.” Sulzer noted that the firm’s California presence has grown to 28 attorneys since the Century City office opened in early 2016 with just three lawyers. “We’re quickly becoming a destination firm in California for top-credentialed, top-quality, diverse legal talent. In California, the majority of our partners and two-thirds of our lawyers are women, and a third of our partners and nearly half of our lawyers are minorities – far exceeding state and national averages.”
Neil Wasser, chair of the firm’s executive committee, calls the new Orange County office a strategic move for the firm in an extraordinarily important market. “California is a bellwether for some of the most complex employment issues that are emerging in the gig economy, and we’re excited to increase our already strong presence with this outstanding group of new attorneys and expand our reach in this critical market.”
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About Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP:
Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP offers a wider lens on workplace law. We have counseled employers exclusively since 1946. With offices in 15 states, we are one of the largest labor and employment law practices in the U.S. Constangy holds a national Tier 1 ranking from the U.S. News & World Report/Best Law Firms survey, and has been called a “go to” law firm by Corporate Counsel and Fortune magazine. Many of our nearly 200 attorneys have been recognized by leading authorities such as Chambers & Partners, Best Lawyers in America and Martindale Hubbell. Find out more about us online at www.constangy.com or follow us on Twitter @ConstangyLaw.