Sarah K. Goldstein
Managing Partner of Orange County
Download vCard
LinkedIn- Professional Overview
Sarah Goldstein is the Managing Partner of the Orange County office and a partner in the Employment Litigation practice. She represents organizations of all sizes in employment-related matters and advises companies on proactive compliance with employment and wage and hour laws. Sarah is an experienced trial lawyer in both the Federal and California Superior Courts, with a focus on harassment, whistle-blower, wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination, and wage and hour matters.
Her litigation practice includes defending employment actions under the Fair Employment and Housing Act including gender, pregnancy, race, ancestry, color, religion, age, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, wrongful termination claims, whistleblower claims, wage and hour claims, and retaliation matters. Sarah also represents employers in administrative actions before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Labor and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
In 1998, Sarah received the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services. An active member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS), Sarah currently serves on the Board of Trustees. She is the current board liaison to the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Future PLUS committee. She chaired the Women’s Leadership Network event in Los Angeles in September 2012. From 2009 to 2011, she served as Southern California Chapter Chairperson.
Representative Experience:
- Trial counsel in a breach of employment contract action in San Diego Superior Court that achieved a defense verdict.
- Counsel in a binding arbitration related to sexual harassment, racial harassment and discrimination, wrongful termination and retaliation case in which all of claimant’s claims were denied.
- Achieved a defense verdict on a FEHA cause of action in a wrongful termination and retaliation case in San Bernardino Superior Court.
- Trial counsel in a wrongful termination, violation of public policy and retaliation case at Santa Clara Superior Court where the verdict achieved was less than the plaintiff’s lowest settlement demand.
- Assisted on several additional trials including a disability discrimination case in which a defense verdict was attained in Federal Court.
- Practice Areas
- Education and Admissions
Education
- J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
- Certificate, Pepperdine University , Mediation
- B.A. from Tulane University.
Admissions
- United States District Court for the Central District of California
- United States District Court for the Northern District of California
States Licensed
- California
- Professional Organization Memberships
- California Bar Association
- Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS)
- PLUS Foundation Board of Directors, 2021
- Board Trustee, 2014-2020
- Orange County Bar Association
- News, Honors, Publications & Speeches
- 2022 speaker: Recent Developments in BIPA, PAGA, ADA Title III and The Great State of California
- 2021 speaker: Employment Law Scenarios for a Post-COVID World
- May 2020 speaker for PLUS: Updated Professional Liability Perspectives on Coronavirus
- March 2020 speaker for PLUS: Professional Liability Perspectives on Coronavirus
- 2020 speaker: The Changing Landscape of Employment Law During COVID-19
- November 2019 opening moderator at the 2019 PLUS Conference for Best Sellers and keynote speakers: Dan Heath and Daniel Pink.
- September 2019 presenter: "Defense Response to Running With the Bulls"
- October 2018 webinar provider for PLUS: “The Weinstein Effect- One Year Later”
- September 2018 speaker at The San Luis Obispo Employers Advisory Council on Implicit Bias and Sexual Harassment Training
- Spring 2018 speaker: “Evaluating Plaintiff’s Emotional Distress Claim Doesn’t Have to Cause You Pain and Suffering”
- January 2018 webinar provider for PLUS: “The Weinstein Effect- The Changing Landscape of Sexual Harassment”
- April 2017 speaker: “Good News in Employment Law and Cases to Watch in 2017”
- May 2016 speaker: “Hot Topics in Employment Law”
- May 2016 speaker: “Recent Expansion of the Joint Employer Doctrine”
- Fall 2015 speaker: “Bird in the Hand: CCP Section 998 Offers to Compromise”
- November 2013 co-Author, Law360 “Troubles With Recognizing Retaliation Under Stimulus Act”
- November 2013 speaker at PLUS Conference: “R U Looking @ My Cookies? Sexual Harassment in the Age of Technology”
- August 2013 webinar provider for ePlace Solutions: “Communication in the Workplace: Addressing Both Positive and Negative Employee Interactions
- June 2013 speaker at ACI’s 19th National Conference on Employment Practices Liability Insurance: “The New Era of Retaliation and Whistleblowing Claims: What This Means for Employers and How They Can Protect Themselves”
- May 2013 speaker at 4th Annual ABA International & Israel Bar Association Joint Conference: “Hot Topics in International Commercial Insurance”
- August 2012 co-author, Daily Journal, “Can All the King’s Men Put our Broken Legal System Together Again?”
- November 2011 speaker at PLUS Conference: “One Degree of Separation Between Employees’ Use of Social Networking and Employers’ Exposures
- November 2011 co-author, PLUS Journal, “Poking Around at Work: Limiting Exposure from Social Media Use”
- January 2011 speaker at The San Luis Obispo Employer Advisory Council: “The Latest and Not So Greatest Developments in Employment Law”
- November 2010 speaker at PLUS Conference: “Watch Out! Hidden Risks of EPLI Discrimination Claims”
- October 2010 speaker: “The Dirt on Defending Against Discrimination Claims”
- Spring 2009 speaker: “You’ve Been Ordered to Mediation… Now What?”
- Spring 2008 speaker at National Employment Practice Liability Insurance ExecuSummit: “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Mediation (But Were Afraid to Ask)”
- January 2008 speaker: “Real Stories from the Trenches”
- November 2007 speaker PLUS Conference: “The Devil is in the Emails: E-Discovery, EGADS!”
- Spring 2006 author The Job Description “Que Pasa with English Only”
- Press Quotes
- “California companies don’t have to enforce employee breaks: State Supreme Court decision clarifies employers’ obligations,” Inside Counsel, April 13, 2012
- “California Employers Must Give Workers Breaks, Court Rules,” Bloomberg News and San Francisco Business Times, April 12, 2012
- “Force Feeding” HRE Daily, April 12, 2012
- “’I Won’t Be Beat’ mattress seller wins round in court” dailybreeze.com March 2009
- “Social Media’s Challenge to Underwriters,” Insurance Networking News
- “Examining E-Discovery,” Rough Notes, November 2007
- “Well Known DUI Lawyer Faces Harassment Suit” Los Angeles Daily Journal 2007