Judith is a highly experienced employment and education lawyer and specializes in representing private K-12 schools, private and public colleges and universities, and other non-profits entities. Judith has worked with well over 100 schools, colleges, universities, and non-profit agencies. On a daily basis, Judith works with and advises Heads of School, Chancellors, Executive Directors, Chief Financial Officers, Human Resources Directors, and other top-level administrators, on a variety of employment, student, education, contract, and business issues. Judith also regularly advises Governing Boards on a multitude of policy, strategic, governance, and other issues.
Judith is also an experienced investigator and is one of three LCW partners that leads the firm’s workplace investigation practice that conducts investigation statewide. Judith regularly conducts employment related investigations for both private and public organizations. Judith conducts the full range of workplace investigations, including high profile, complex, and politically sensitive investigations. Judith also conducts student related investigations for colleges and universities, including Title IX investigations. Judith’s abilities as an investigator includes her wealth of experience and skills from litigating cases in State and Federal court for over twenty years, and understanding the art of gathering facts, witness interviews, obtaining relevant information, reaching supportable conclusions, and other skills necessary to conduct a sound and defensible investigation.
In addition to her extensive experience litigating in trial courts, Judith is also a skilled appellate lawyer. Judith has successfully handled multiple appeals before the California Court of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals and has several published appellate decisions.
Judith is a popular speaker and regularly conducts management training on a wide variety of employment, student, and governance issues. Some of the topics Judith presents on are preventing discrimination harassment, best practices to avoid liability, drafting effective performance evaluations, managing the marginal employee, basic supervisor training, teacher/student boundaries, Title IX, mandated reporter laws, and conducting effective workplace investigations. Judith also regularly presents the “train the trainer” workshop, for human resources professionals to obtain certification to conduct AB 1825 training and the “train the investigator” workshop to assist human resources professional and other designated employees to meet the training standards to conduct workplace investigations under the DFEH workplace harassment standards.
Prior to joining Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, Judith was a partner in a national labor and employment law firm and then was a partner in a boutique employment and business litigation firm. Judith began her career representing employers at Liebert, Cassidy Frierson, LCW’s predecessor.
Judith received her BA from the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and received her JD from the University of California, Davis School of Law.
Professional and Community Involvement
Judith is a member of College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) and the Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI).
