| Biography | Lisa Halko provides experienced and practical counsel in business and consumer product litigation, with focus on toxic substances and product safety. She defends businesses in individual and multiparty litigation on claims involving the Class Action Fairness Act, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Lacey Act, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, and California's Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, Safe Drinking Water and Toxics Enforcement Act (Proposition 65) and Unfair Competition Law (Section 17200). She also represents businesses in proceedings before the California Environmental Protection Agency, including administrative hearings, clean-up plans, and regulations to establish defenses to liability under California's Proposition 65. She is experienced both in litigation against California's Attorney General and in actions brought under California's "private attorney general" laws. Lisa counsels California employers in labor negotiations and personnel matters, with expertise in unique California laws governing wages and hours, commission compensation, discrimination, leave and accommodation, and toxic exposure issues. She uses her experience as general counsel for a public employer to help clients make appropriate business decisions while mitigating their vulnerability to frivolous litigation. She represents her clients before state administrative agencies and provides aggressive defense from individual or multi-plaintiff claims of discrimination, harassment, and other employment issues. Lisa was General Counsel for the Superior Court of California for Yolo County for six years, then served as Court Executive Officer. She represented the court in public contracting, personnel matters, labor negotiations, risk management, funding, and conflicts of interest. She also advised judges on legal issues arising from their cases and served as special master or judge pro tem in civil, criminal, and appellate matters. This trial court experience gave Lisa special insight into judicial decision making as well as subject matter expertise in environmental regulation, land use, CEQA review, administrative procedure, intellectual property, and employment law. Lisa is a Master of the Inn with the Milton L. Schwartz American Inn of Court and the MCLE Chairperson for the Yolo County Bar Associations. She is a frequent speaker and writer on Proposition 65 law and policy. Areas of Concentration · Compliance counseling · Product Safety · Proposition 65 regulatory advocacy · Proposition 65 advice and litigation · Administrative and regulatory proceedings · Compliance counseling · California's Unfair Competition Law (Section 17200) · Workplace counseling and litigation Professional & Community Involvement · Member, State Bar of California (Member, Public Law Section) · Member, Yolo County (Chair, MCLE, 1999-2003) and American (Member, Sections on: Administrative Law · Member, Forum, Committee on: Affordable Housing and Community Development Law) Bar Associations · Master, Milton Schwartz Inn of Court · Visiting Professor, University of California at Davis, School of Law, 2002-2003 · General Counsel, Superior Court of California for Yolo County, 1998-2003 · Court Executive Officer, 2003 Articles, Publications, & Lectures Articles · Author, "Proposition 65 Listing: Direct from the United Nations?" Greenberg Traurig Sacramento Newsletter, July 2008 · Author, "Second District Draws the Line on Prop 64," Greenberg Traurig Sacramento Newsletter, October, 2007 · Author, "Proposition 65 Food Fight Continues," Greenberg Traurig Sacramento Newsletter, July 2007 · Author, "Ruling Criticizing Prop 65 Is Mixed Blessing for Defendants," Vol. 21 No. 22, Washington Legal Foundation, July 2006 · Co-Author, "The Jungle vs. Prop 65: Federal Law Preempts California Health Warnings," Washington Legal Foundation, September 9, 2005 · Co-Author, "Contraception: Not a Reproductive Effect? Scientific Panel Declines to List Progesterone as a Prop 65 Reproductive Toxicant," L&M Newsletter, September 2005 · Co-Author, "DART Committee Finds Data Inadequate to List Perchlorate" L&M - The Prop 65 Report, August 2005 · Author, "OEHHA Considers Exemption to Proposition 65 for Acrylamides in Cooked Foods," L&M - The Prop 65 Report, June 2005 · Author, "USDA Urges Federal Preemption of Proposition 65 for Meat and Poultry," L&M Newsletter, June 2005 · Author, "Courts Split on Application of Prop 64," L&M Newsletter, March 2005 · Author, Selected Articles on the Uganda Resistance War, by Yoweri Museveni, Book Review in UFAHAMU: The Journal of the African Activist Association, Vol. XV No. 3, Winter, 1987 Books · Co-Author with Marc D. Hauser, "Paper Trail Through the Rain Forest," Chapter in I've Been Gone Far Too Long: Field Trip Fiascos and Expedition Disasters, ed. Monique Borgerhoff-Mulder, RDR Books (Oakland, 1996) Speeches · Speaker, Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) Seminar, March 5, 2009 · Speaker, "Generation Y - What are their Expectations?" Greenberg Traurig, Labor & Employment Survival Guide 2008: Information Critical to Today's Employers, May 6, 2008 · Sponsor, speaker, and advising board member for the Prop. 65 Clearinghouse Annual Conference, February 2007, April 2008 · Speaker, "Prop 65 Update," California Bottled Water Association (CBWA) 23rd Annual Convention & Trade Show, March 8, 2008 · Speaker, "Proposition 65 News Update," 6th Annual Environmental and Regulatory Issues Conference & Exposition: The Greening of California Businesses, November 8, 2007 · Speaker, International Bottled Water Association Convention and Trade Show, October 2006 |
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