O’Hagan Meyer is excited to announce the expansion of its San Francisco office.

We have added several extraordinary litigators to our team in San Francisco. Dennis Strazulo and Joe Lordan will serve as Co-Managing Partners and are joined by Partners Julie Azevedo, Daniel Cravens, Vincent Fisher, Sumy Kim, Jessica Pliner, Daniel Qualls, Erica Rocush, Kaa Bao Yang, and Matt Zumstein. We are also proud to announce that Associates Ciara Dineen, Bo Kim, and Brittany Vulcan will be joining the team.

These exceptional litigators bring not only a proven track record of success in defending employment and commercial litigation in court but years of counseling clients on effective and innovative strategies to achieve their business objectives. We are excited to have these talented attorneys support our clients’ employment and other litigation needs out West.

Meet the Team:

Joseph R. Lordan, Co-Managing Partner of San Francisco
Joseph Lordan’s practice is dedicated to defending employers in employment and business litigation and providing preventative, individually-tailored advice and counseling. Mr. Lordan’s practice includes defending employers in wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, ADA access, trade secret litigation, and includes extensive work with PAGA and wage and hour class action claims. Mr. Lordan and his team also provide preventative counseling to employers regarding all employment practices, and he assists both start-up and established companies in protecting, developing, and implementing their business plans. Practicing in San Francisco, many of his clients are in the technology, viticulture, transportation, health care, construction, retail, food service, and education spaces, amongst many other industries. He takes pride in offering clients practical advice and insights that allow them to make wise business decisions and avoid unnecessary expense and litigation. Learn more about Joseph.

Julie Azevedo, Partner
For the past thirty years, Julie Azevedo has represented and defended businesses, individuals, and public entities in various types of complex civil litigation cases, including those involving catastrophic injuries, through mediation, arbitration and trial. She has tried civil cases to both a jury and a judge in California and Washington and has handled binding and non-binding arbitrations. Ms. Azevedo is a skillful litigator who represents businesses and individuals in labor and employment matters, developing strategic plans to litigate or resolve cases by engaging with counsel and mediators to obtain the best results for her clients. Learn more about Julie.

Daniel Cravens, Partner
Daniel Cravens’ practice is dedicated to defending employers in employment and business litigation and providing preventative, individually-tailored advice and counseling. Mr. Cravens has spent his 23-year career on both sides of litigation, but his current practice is entirely devoted to defending employers in wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, ADA access, trade secret litigation, and general business litigation. He takes pride in offering clients practical insights that allow them to make wise business decisions and avoid unnecessary expense and litigation. Learn more about Daniel.

Vincent Fisher, Partner
Vincent Fisher has extensive experience defending employers in collective, class, and representative actions, and he is considered a thought leader and a masterful litigator in the wage-and-hour litigation sphere. Mr. Fisher’s experience includes “bet the business” nationwide collective actions and class actions presenting novel legal issues of first impression. He has represented clients across a broad range of industries by shaping and executing successful trial strategies in a variety of settings, including complex litigation featuring unionized workforces as well as sensitive litigation implicating national security. Learn more about Vincent. 

Sumy Kim, Partner
Sumy Kim is a skilled litigator and defends employers and individual defendants in discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, and wage and hour litigation. Ms. Kim’s litigation philosophy is to provide aggressive representation for her clients while ensuring they are well-informed to make difficult business decisions during the process through preventative counseling to employers regarding CA employment practices. Ms. Kim’s former experience includes litigating individual and class actions from the plaintiffs’ side, giving her invaluable insight into the thought processes and litigation strategies of plaintiffs’ counsel. Learn more about Sumy. 

Jessica Pliner, Partner
A legal counselor to individuals and businesses throughout California and beyond, Ms. Pliner works on matters of employment, intellectual property, commercial litigation, professional liability, trucking, product liability, and large-exposure tort litigation. Jessica’s practice includes defending employers in wrongful termination, breach of contract, defamation, ADA access, sexual assault and more. Jessica meticulously develops and executes defense strategy and defends all aspects of litigation from inception to resolution. With painstaking focus and well-analyzed evaluations of each matter, Jessica obtains outstanding results for her clients. Learn more about Jessica. 

Daniel Qualls, Partner
Daniel Qualls is an experienced trial lawyer with over 50 trials and arbitrations. Before switching to represent the interests of employers, Mr. Qualls was a prominent plaintiffs’ counsel and trial attorney. Mr. Qualls’s practice focuses on California wage and hour and consumer class actions, and California Labor Code Private Attorney General Act of 2004 qui tam proceedings/executive compensation cases. As a defense attorney, Mr. Qualls has defended employers of all sizes, from Fortune 100 to ‘Mom and Pop’ establishments, from wage and hour litigation. He brings his experience to bear to provide pragmatic and aggressive litigation defense, preventative counseling, and business advising. Learn more about Daniel.

Erica Rocush, Partner
Ms. Rocush devotes her legal practice to management-side employment advice and counseling. Her clients range from small partnerships to large international companies, and they operate across multiple industries, including construction, professional services, manufacturing, education, retail, hospitality and healthcare. She counsels clients on best practices for avoiding litigation and on employee-related policies and procedures including employer-employee relationship, wage and hour compliance, paid sick leave laws, performance management, leaves of absence, the interactive process, hiring, terminations, and more. Learn more about Erica.

Kaa Bao Yang, Partner
Kaa Bao’s practice covers a wide array of legal matters in state and federal court, as well as arbitration disputes. Ms. Yang also handles matters before administrative agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, California Department of Fair Employment & Housing, and California Department of Industrial Relations. Her practice involves matters of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, unlawful termination, breach of contract, and more, and also provides proactive counsel on workplace practices and policies. Kaa Bao Yang is accomplished in litigating various types of claims representing some of the nation’s largest companies, including a successful defense a multi-million dollar claim at trial. Learn more about Kaa Bao.

Matt D. Zumstein, Partner
Matt Zumstein is an experienced litigator representing business owners in all phases of litigation. His practice focuses on civil litigation with an emphasis on products and premises liability, construction defect, real estate, employment, and business litigation. Mr. Zumstein defending individuals and corporations in general liability lawsuits ranging in severity from soft issue injuries to wrongful death matters. As a former prosecutor having taken over 50 cases to verdict, Mr. Zumstein knows how to handle juries when it comes to getting a favorable decision for his clients, while setting a high standard of professional conduct, courtesy, and cooperation. Learn more about Matt. 

Ciara Dineen, Associate
Ms. Dineen is a member of the Labor and Employment group where she defends clients from claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, breach of contract, defamation, and wage and hour claims. Ms. Dineen has experience handling matters at varied stages in litigation, including taking and defending depositions and arguing a wide breath of motions. She has represented clients from a range of industries including healthcare, high-tech, venture capital, manufacturing, non-profit, and construction. Learn more about Ciara. 

Bo Kyung Kim, Associate
Ms. Kim specializes in wage and hour class action and representative action, including complex class action litigations involving unions, collective bargaining agreements, and alternative workweek schedules. She also has experience in defending companies and individuals in discrimination, retaliation, and workplace harassment claims. Ms. Kim is fluent in Korean, and she has in-depth experience in providing legal counseling to domestic and international Korean companies in litigation and compliance matters. Learn more about Bo.

Brittany Vulcan, Associate
Licensed in California, Washington, and pending in Oregon, Ms. Vulcan has extensive litigation experience in single party, complex wage, hour class, and representation actions. Ms. Vulcan confidently represents and advises employers of all sizes across varying industries including private aviation, healthcare, and nationwide logistics and distribution. She represents employers on the state and federal level concerning matters involving wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, Title VII, and more. Learn more about Brittany.