Vanessa Lee

Drawing on her extensive experience representing employers in personnel disputes, Vanessa Lee advises school districts on a wide range of labor and employment matters. They include reasonable accommodations, leaves of absence, discipline and dismissals, and discrimination, harassment and retaliation complaints filed with the California Civil Rights Department (formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Vanessa also conducts personnel investigations and handles Public Records Act requests.

Vanessa has represented school districts in unfair labor practice proceedings before the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), grievance arbitrations, and reduction in force hearings before the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). When such disputes manifest, clients appreciate her ability to stand firm on issues important to them, while taking care to preserve their relationship with the union.

Highly regarded for her analytic and creative thinking, Vanessa has earned a reputation for providing clients with reliable and candid legal opinions, particularly in unsettled areas of the law. This skill—combined with her legal acumen and familiarity with the judicial system—enables her to give clients a sense of what will likely occur and offer them practical options for any predicament that arises.

Before joining F3, Vanessa practiced at a Los Angeles boutique law firm, representing employers in state court, before the Labor Commissioner’s Office, and in mediation. She has defended employers against an array of matters, including wage-and-hour, breach-of-contract, discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination claims. This litigation experience informs her current work conducting personnel investigations, as it helps her identify areas of potential liability and craft ways to remedy any missteps.

While in law school, Vanessa served as a law clerk for the Health, Education and Welfare Section of the California Office of the Attorney General. There, she drafted motions on behalf of a number of state agencies and researched issues concerning for-profit colleges and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. During law school, Vanessa also clerked for the Honorable Garrett Wong in San Francisco Superior Court. In these two positions, she gained valuable insight into the inner workings of both public agencies and the courts, which enhances her ability to serve clients today.