Panelists from the Bench and Bar will discuss how it is possible to be successful in the field of law and raise a family at the same time.
When: Tuesday January 13, 2009
Where: Nobili Hall, Santa Clara University campus, 5:00 pm with a reception sponsored by Dean Donald Polden following the panel.
Co- sponsored by the Council on Access and Fairness, the California Women Lawyers, Santa Clara University School of Law, SCU Women and Law, SBA, and Law Moms and Dads @ SCU.
Moderator:
Patti White
Panelists:
Neda Dal Cielo
Hon. Jacqueline Duong
Daisy Nishigaya
Shannon Stein
See below for biographies of the moderator and panelists.
Neda Dal Cielo is a litigator whose practice is focused on all aspects of civil lawsuits and administrative proceedings involving allegations of wrongful termination, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and other related claims arising out of employment disputes. Ms. Dal Cielo has experience in federal and state administrative actions before the California Labor Commissioner, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She represents employers in wrongful termination, sexual harassment and employment discrimination litigation; National Labor Relations Board matters, including representation cases, unfair labor practice proceedings, grievance arbitrations; Title VII proceedings, including race, sex, religious and age harassment and discrimination; unfair competition proceedings; and state and federal wage and hour litigation.
Ms. Dal Cielo counsels employers on the Americans With Disabilities Act, the California Business and Professions Code, the Family and Medical Leave Act, employee terminations, litigation avoidance, reductions in force, the development of personnel policies and procedures, workplace violence, pre-employment screening, federal and state wage and hour issues, employment agreements, restrictive covenants, trade secrets and unfair competition; drug and alcohol testing. She also conducts in-house employment law training programs.
Education
J. D., Santa Clara University, 1992
B.A., Philosophy, Santa Clara University, cum laude, 1989
Cases/Courts/Judges
Admitted to practice before all California Courts
United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern and Southern
Districts of California
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Lectures & Presentations
Ms. Dal Cielo has made numerous presentations on specialized areas of labor and employment law including wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, arbitration, and layoffs/downsizing. She has been a speaker at the firm’s Breakfast Briefings. Ms. Dal Cielo also conducts in-house training sessions and risk management audits to help employers avoid employment-related liability.
Activities
American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law sections
California State Bar
Santa Clara County Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law section
Ms. Dal Cielo teaches classes on reductions in force and alternative dispute resolutions for the University of California at Santa Cruz Extension’s Law & Human Resources Management course.
Judge Jacqueline Duong, appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger on May 23, 2007, is the first Vietnamese American woman appointed to the bench in Northern California.
Judge Duong was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States with her family in April of 1975, first to Pennsylvania then, in 1980, to California. She obtained her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law.
Prior to her appointment, Judge Duong has spent most of her legal career in the public sector and has acquired broad experience in diverse practice areas such as criminal, civil, public and administrative. She started her legal career with a short stint in private practice at the Law Office of J. Thomas Sherrod, then worked for the Santa Clara County Office of the Public Defender for three and half years, where she honed her trial advocacy skills. She made a career change from criminal to civil practice by joining the Santa Clara County Office of County Counsel in 1999, where she worked for eight years until her appointment to the bench. As a Lead Deputy County Counsel, she worked in the areas of labor and employment, public entity law, education law, law and justice, civil litigation, probate conservatorship, trusts and estates, and general government entity work which includes real estate transactions, contract review, and public entity law.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Judge Duong has a long history and a wide-range of community experience. She served as a member of the Asian Law Alliance Board of Directors and was a past President in 1999 and 2000. She previously served on the Judicial Council of California Access and Fairness Advisory. She has also served on a variety of Boards and Commissions, including the Santa Clara County Bar Association (SCCBA) Blue Ribbon Diversity Commission, the KNTV Community Board, the East Side San Jose Community Law Center Advisory Board, the Santa Clara County Domestic Violence Council, and the San Jose Mercury News VietMercury Advisory Board. She has also served in various leadership roles within the SCCBA, including Secretary, member of the Executive Committee, Member of the Board of Trustees, Co-Chair of the Judiciary Committee and Chair of the Minority Access Committee (MAC). She also volunteered for the Mock Trial Program, coaching high school students from her alma mater Yerba Buena High School.
Judge Duong was the Co-Founder and the first President of the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California (1996). In 2006, she initiated and spearheaded the inaugural National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys attended by more than 150 Vietnamese American attorneys from across the country. Judge Duong is also the Founder of the Vietnamese American Professional Women of Silicon Valley. Judge Duong has been the recipient of various awards, including the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys Trailblazer Award (2008), the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California Trailblazer Award (2007), Asian Law Alliance Legal Impact Award (2008), the Santa Clara County Bar Association MAC Unsung Heroes Award (2007), the County of Santa Clara County Executive Unity in Diversity Award (2006), and the Helen Tsao Community Service Award (1999). She was recently named as one of the approximately 80 "Women of Influence in Silicon Valley" by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal (2008).
Currently, Judge Duong is serving on the Santa Clara Count Superior Court Budget/Finance Committee. Judge Duong is committed to serving the community by pursuing opportunities to mentor students and young professionals. She is a firm believer in giving back to the community in the form of public and community service.
Daisy Nishigaya graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law, cum laude, in 1996, and got married after taking the bar exam that summer. She married a law school graduate who was in the class one year ahead of her. She has been married for 12 years.
After graduation, she became an intern at the San Jose City Attorney’s Office for one year. The position was only a one-year position and to become a deputy city attorney at the time, three years experience was required. She left the City and became an associate at Thoits, Love, Hershberger & McLean, a 16-lawyer firm in Palo Alto practicing business litigation, with the intention of going back to the City after three years. She stayed at the firm for nearly ten years because she enjoyed the people, the work, and the salary. During this time, the partners at the firm told her that she needed more "business" experience, so while on maternity leave, she opened a small craft business. After she went back to work, she ultimately sold the business because it became too demanding on her time.
She never gave up on her dream to be a Deputy City Attorney, and in 2005, a San Jose Deputy City Attorney became a Judge and the City Attorney’s Office was actually hiring, which is very rare because people do not give up those positions easily. She was hired and has been living her dream of being a Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Jose for three years now practicing litigation.
She has an eight-year-old son and twin sons who are five. She has taught the Trial Techniques lab at Santa Clara University School of Law and her husband is an adjunct professor there as well teaching a Criminal Justice Seminar. He works for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Shannon Stein has been practicing Family Law since she graduated from Michigan State University Law School in 2001.
She has experience with dissolutions, mediations, paternity, child custody, child support, spousal support, juvenile dependency, premarital agreements, high asset cases, step-parent adoptions, guardianships, and restraining orders.
Ms. Stein is very active in the Santa Clara County Bar Association. (SCCBA) She will serve as Treasurer for 2009. Shannon was the Chair of the Family Law Section Committee in 2008 and remains very active in the section. She has served on the on the Board of Trustees of the SCCBA for many years. She also is a member of the Women Lawyers Committee, and the Finance Committee of the SCCBA. Shannon previously served as Chair of the Barrister’s Section from 2004 through 2007. She also had the honor of receiving the Barristers Award for 2008.
Ms. Stein is on the Amicus Committee of the Silicon Valley Legal Services, is active in the Junior League of Palo Alto/Menlo Park, William Ingram American Inn of Court and participates in other community organizations.
Ms. Stein teaches many continuing education classes for lawyers as well as teaching adult education community classes in Sunnyvale.
Prior to opening up her own firm, Ms. Stein worked as an Associate at one of the premier Family Law firms, Hammer and Jacobs and as an Associate at Sayar Fausto, LLP.
Education:
B.A. University of California, San Diego
M.A. Brandeis University
J.D. Cum Laude, Michigan State University
Patricia P. White has extensive experience in advising employers about human resources issues, including training supervisors and preparing personnel policies, representing management in employment discrimination proceedings (E.E.O.C. and D.F.E.H.), sexual harassment, Americans with Disabilities Act and family leave cases, and wage and hour disputes. She has defended employers in termination cases. Ms. White has also represented many unionized employers in collective bargaining, arbitrations and Public Employment Relations Board hearings.
Ms. White has represented many public entities in labor relations, including permanent teacher dismissals, certificated and classified layoffs; and dismissal of other public employees, including administrators; collective bargaining negotiations, Public Employment Relations Board proceedings, administrative mandamus hearings, employment discrimination litigation and administrative proceedings, and related employment law problems as well as student harassment cases. Ms. White represents K-12 public school districts, county offices of education, community college districts and cities.
Ms. White is a member of the Board of Governors of the California State Bar. She serves on the Steering Committee for the California Chief Justice’s Commission on Impartial Courts. Ms. White served as 2003 President of the Santa Clara County Bar Association and as the 1998 Chairperson of that Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section. She has served on the Board of the Silicon Valley Campaign for Legal Services and on the University of Santa Clara Law Alumni Board. She has assisted in editing a labor law bench book prepared for Superior Court Judges. Ms. White has been a contributing editor to Developing Labor Law. She has been quoted in the San Jose Business Journal, San Francisco Daily Journal and the California Lawyer on sexual harassment and has been interviewed on public radio on harassment in public schools and colleges. She is a member of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section and the California Bar Association Labor and Employment Section. Ms. White is a frequent speaker at seminars and workshops on employment law issues. She has an AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell.
EDUCATION
Ms. White has a B.A. from Stanford University, and she received a J.D., summa cum laude, from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1978, where she was an articles editor on the Santa Clara Law Review.
