Stephen Hirschfeld is a founding partner with the law firm of Curiale Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP, in San Francisco, California. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), the world's largest network of labor and employment lawyers. His practice involves labor, employment and higher education law on behalf of management in both the private and public sector. Mr. Hirschfeld advises clients throughout the country on day-to-day legal issues affecting the workplace, including employee discipline and terminations, union organizing, workforce reductions, discrimination claims, proprietary information and trade secrets disputes, substance abuse, workplace privacy, disability accommodations, executive employment contracts, overseeing and conducting internal investigations involving employee, student, and faculty misconduct, faculty tenure issues, and other human resources issues. He regularly defends employers in state and federal courts on disputes involving discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, trade secrets/unfair competition and wage and hour law. He successfully argued a seminal wage and hour issue before the California Supreme Court. Mr. Hirschfeld has vast experience working with unionized businesses on matters including collective bargaining, union contract disputes, and labor arbitrations. He has tried to verdict over 100 cases before courts, arbitrators, administrative law judges and government agencies with a 'win rate' of over 90 percent. Mr. Hirschfeld has conducted and overseen hundreds of investigations involving allegations of employee misconduct. He regularly assists multi-national clients by conducting worldwide employment law audits to ensure they are in full compliance with all applicable employment and labor laws. Mr. Hirschfeld has experience working with Boards of Directors to improve their effectiveness and communications. His clients range from Fortune 500 companies to small, privately-owned businesses. Mr. Hirschfeld represents over 100 colleges and universities throughout the United States. He takes a proactive approach when advising clients, emphasizing creative solutions to employee relations problems. He frequently represents employers in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies on a variety of litigation matters involving the employer-employee relationship. Mr. Hirschfeld routinely counsels management about ways to prevent costly and protracted litigation. He teaches clients' executives, managers, and supervisors how to make sound human resource decisions, while at the same time minimizing wrongful termination, discrimination, and sexual harassment claims. Other Distinctions · Named by Human Resource Executive, and Lawdragon as one of America's 100 most powerful employment lawyers in 2009, 2010 and 2011. · Named by Who's Who Legal - Management Labor and Employment Law and The Expert Guide as one of the world's leading lawyers in labor and employment law. · Fellow, The College of Labor and Employment Law. · Listed in Northern California Super Lawyers 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. · Listed in "Leaders in Their Field" in Chambers USA 2010 and 2011. According to Chambers, he is praised as "knowledgeable, smart and savvy - the lawyer to go to for sophisticated employment issues" and "passionate, energetic and intelligent, cost-senistive and a delightful personality." · Named by the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of the "California Lawyers Companies Turn to First." · Listed by AsiaLaw as one of America's leading Asia-Pacific focused employment lawyers. · National Association of College and University Attorneys' Distinguished Service Award, that organization's highest award which was established to recognize individuals who have given extraordinary service to higher education. · Mr. Hirschfeld is "AV" rated by Martindale Hubbell. Professional and Civic Involvement · American Bar Association · InterPacific Bar Association · International Bar Association · Bar Association of San Francisco, Labor & Employment Law Section · National Association of College and University Attorneys · Society for Human Resource Management · XBHR · DRI · Member of the Bucknell University Parents Board of Directors. Representative Public Presentations and Articles Speeches · Top Ten Things a Business Officer Needs to Know · Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities: The Most Important Things College Presidents Need to Know · NACUA's March 2010 CLE Workshop on Higher Education Employment Law: Changing Campuses, Continuing Challenges · Ensuring Global Employment Law Compliance in International Operations Publications · Company Bullies May Get Their Due in court With New Laws · All Together Now: The Challenge of Managing a Global Workforce · Policymakers, Take Note: The Force is with the Workplace Bloggers · Stopping Sexual Harassment: An Employer's Guide · Doing Business in the Muslim World - Practical Issues for Employers and Employees · Workplace Bullying: The Next legal Frontier? · Office Romance: Are the rules changing? · A Global Perspective on Investigating Employee Misconduct · Conducting An Effective Internal Investigation |