Cynthia Jackson is chair of the Firm’s North America Compensation and Employment Law Practice Group and serves on both the Global Employment and North America Corporate Compliance steering committees. She has over 30 years of experience working on domestic and international employment counseling and litigation. Ms. Jackson has been consistently recognized as a leader in her field by Chambers USA, Legal 500, Best Lawyers of America, Northern California Super Lawyers and America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journal and Financier Worldwide. She is also a frequent speaker for various seminars and institutions, such as the Association of Corporate Counsel, Bay Area Council and Sciences Politiques (Paris).

Practice Focus

Ms. Jackson provides domestic and international employment counseling to clients, especially with respect to the global coordination of personnel-related initiatives. She also advises on domestic and international personnel policies and implementation, employment agreements, severance agreements and obligations, employment and data privacy, corporate social responsibility and other matters related to employment law. Ms. Jackson also defends employers in litigation disputes involving wrongful discharge, state and federal discrimination laws, whistleblower, privacy and other work-related tort claims, ERISA, Section 301 claims and unfair business practice claims, among others. She also represents employers in appellate proceedings, administrative proceedings, arbitrations and class actions.

Representative Legal Matters

• Defended Maxim Integrated Products in Federal Court, defeating Rule 23 class certification seeking overtime for over 200 allegedly misclassified employees.
• Defended TrendMicro, winning summary judgment in Santa Clara Superior Court on behalf of the US subsidiary and Japanese parent company dismissing claims of tortious wrongful dismissal, fraud and breach of contract for stock options in excess of USD40 million.
• Defended three different publicly traded companies in SOX whistleblower suits before OSHA, obtaining defense judgments in each, as well as obtaining dismissals of two state tortious wrongful discharges for alleged SOX whistleblowing.
• Advised dozens of US multinationals regarding global reductions in force and cost-cutting measures for their subsidiaries worldwide.
• Drafted and implemented Global Codes of Conduct for numerous US multinationals, including setting up global whistleblower hotlines and supporting data privacy compliance.
• Drafted and implemented global Supply Codes of Conduct, established factory audit procedures and advised multiple companies regarding corporate social responsibility issues.

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American Bar Association
• State Bar of California - Labor and Employment Section
• State Bar of Texas

Admission

U.S. District Court, Southern District of California~United States (2013)
U.S. District Court, Colorado~United States (2003)
U.S. District Court, Central District of Calif.~United States (1987)
U.S. Supreme Court~United States (1987)
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California~United States (1982)
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California~United States (1980)
California~United States (1980)
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit~United States (1980)
Texas~United States (1979)

Education

University of Texas School of Law  (J.D. Honors) (1979)
Stanford University  (B.A. Honors) (1976)