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With over 25 years of professional experience, I bring a wealth of expertise in legal operations, litigation, and organizational management to my role as Deputy Chief Counsel at Caltrans Legal Division. I lead a dynamic team of attorneys and staff, fostering a collaborative environment to handle complex legal matters ranging from tort and employment law to eminent domain and environmental issues. My mission aligns with Caltrans' commitment to serving public infrastructure needs through efficient legal guidance while promoting innovation and inclusion within the team. At Caltrans, I oversee office operations, case management, and attorney training for a diverse portfolio of legal challenges across multiple counties. Leveraging my leadership and performance management skills, I contribute to the success of high-stakes litigation and arbitration matters, ensuring strategic alignment with organizational goals. Through my collaborative approach, I empower teams to deliver impactful legal solutions, advancing Caltrans' objectives and supporting critical statewide projects like the California High Speed Rail Authority.
I supervise Caltrans' Los Angles Legal Office, which is in-house counsel for Caltrans' District 7 and District 8 offices. My office handles small to heavy litigation matters in L.A., Ventura, and San Bernardino Counties in tort (dangerous condition and driver cases), employment law, eminent domain, inverse condemnation, construction arbitration, small claims, and environmental matters. Caltrans' Legal Division is also assisting the California High Speed Rail Authority by handling its eminent domain work in the Central Valley. I have a staff of roughly 85 people and supervise about 47 attorneys (depending on current staffing). In addition to being responsible for office operations, cases, and training staff, I and the office provide District staff with legal guidance and advice as required. In my prior roles at Caltrans, I handled all aspects of the office's litigation (including appellate work) and tried numerous cases in administrative and superior courts. My primary focus area was employment law, and I participated in putting together statewide training for legal and client staff and in creating and running the Legal Division's Employment Law Committee. Subsequently, I worked as an Assistant Chief Counsel where I supervised and trained 7-10 attorneys (at any given time) who represented Caltrans in complex litigation.
In my 20 year career I served as a Judge Advocate handling a variety of legal matters (administrative/family law, operational law, criminal law, etc.) I also served as the Staff Judge Advocate at the CAARNG IBCT Brigade and the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at the 40th Infantry Division. In 2005 I deployed for a year to Kosovo where I worked on administrative law matters. In this role I supervised attorney and NCO staff and advised commanders on the law.
I handled insurance defense work related to medical malpractice matters (the office's primary focus), bugt primarily handled tort (automobile and property defense), legal malpractice, employment, and products liability matters.
While at AT&T (Pacific Bell), I worked as a Directory Assistance Officer and as a bill processor. In order to utilize the company's education tuition program, I worked full time on the graveyard shift at the latter position while I attended college and law school in traditional day programs. In both positions I acted at times in lead-worker roles.
Enlisted as an MP in the U.S. Army. I guarded nuclear weapons in Germany for about two years and carried out MP field duties. I worked at the 24th Infantry Division as an MP officer on Fort Stewart, GA, handling a variety of police activities and field duties. Deployed to Egypt for roughly one month with the 24th ID and performed field duties while deployed in the desert.