Also featuring Lisa Spiegel, a partner at Duane Morris LLP, the CLE event will be on Tuesday, May 29, 2012, at Duane Morris LLP, One Market Plaza, Spear Tower, Suite 2200, San Francisco. Cost is $30 in advance and $40 at the door if space is available. This is an AILA NorCal members-only event. AILA NorCal is a State Bar of California approved provider. For more information, please contact Olivia Lee or Angela Mapa at programdirector@ailanorcal.com.

Glicel received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis, and attended San Francisco School of Law, where she received a Witkin Award in Choice of Law for academic excellence.

While attending law school, Glicel worked full-time as a paralegal for the Employment Practice Group at Minami Tamaki for four years. Prior to reuniting with our firm, she began her attorney career at a mortgage banking firm, where she represented its lender-clients in disputes regarding negligence, misrepresentation, contract and repurchases, among others, in state and federal courts. She also researched and published mortgage banking articles for industry-wide conferences. Glicel is a member of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association.

Although there were serious issues with proving negligence and causation, our discovery showed that lighting on the stairs was less than the minimum required by the building code and one of the handrails of the stairs did not extend to the bottom of the staircase, which was also a code violation and would have contributed to her falling while descending the stairs in the dark.

Brenda was airlifted by helicopter ambulance to John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek where she was hospitalized from February 21 to April 13, 2009. She was diagnosed as a C6 quadriplegic and underwent fixation of fractures at the C4/C5 level in her neck; laminectomy surgeries of the C3 through C7 levels; and implantation of surgical rods and hardware from C4 to C6. She was transferred to California Pacific Medical Center where she stayed from April 13 to June 5, 2009.

Brenda’s medical expenses, which were paid by Medicare, were approximately $490,000. The retreat center had an insurance policy of $3 million. Senior Counsel Mark Fong, Partner Dale Minami and co-counsel Steve Cavalli settled her claim for damages and her husband’s claim for loss of companionship and services for $2.9 million.

Based in Washington, D.C., the American Immigration Council has played a leading role in the national debate over immigration reform. With its focus on advocacy, public policy, litigation and education, the AIC is dedicated to changing the way Americans think and act towards immigrants, and committed towards advancing fundamental fairness and due process for immigrants.

“The AIC sits on the cutting edge of immigration law and policy, and I’m excited to be a part of it, “said Kwok. “Its leadership represents all that is outstanding, forward thinking, and compassionate within the immigration bar.”

“The Trustees voted unanimously to have Minette join the Board. She is a perfect fit for our organization given her expertise, demonstrated leadership, and contributions to the immigrant community,” said Board of Trustees Chair Kirsten Schlenger, managing partner of Weaver Schlenger Mazel LLP.

Ms. Kwok heads the immigration practice group at Minami Tamaki LLP, which focuses primarily on business immigration, representing startups and Fortune 500 companies in the IT, engineering, clean energy, and manufacturing industries, guiding employers through mergers/acquisitions, reduction in force, and phenomenal growth.

She has served as a Commissioner with the State Bar of California’s Board of Legal Specialization’s Immigration and Nationality Law Advisory Commission; as Chair of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Northern California; and as Liaison to the Department of Labor, Region IX.

Minette has been named a Northern California Super Lawyer by Law & Politics Magazine for eight consecutive years, was selected as one of the Top 50 Female Northern California Super Lawyers, and has been awarded an AV rating by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the highest rating for competence and ethics issued by that publication, reserved for attorneys designated as outstanding in their field.

Phil graduated from Duke University School of Law and received his B.A. in Political Science (Phi Beta Kappa) from UC Berkeley. After law school, Phil joined the San Francisco corporate group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he worked on M&A transactions valued from $20 million to $1 billion, secured lending transactions valued from $1.5 million to $400 million, and growth equity transactions valued from $40 million.

Phil has experience counseling executives at both large corporate firms and local small businesses. Since moving to San Francisco, Phil has provided pro bono representation to various entrepreneurs, small businesses and charitable/educational organizations, and has worked on projects with the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights and the SF Bar Association’s Volunteer Legal Services Program.

At Minami Tamaki, Phil represents privately-held companies, entrepreneurs, and non-profit corporations in a variety of business and financial transactions, and counsels management in the areas of corporate governance, regulatory compliance, employment, commercial leases, dispute resolution, and intellectual property.

A Bay Area native, Phil developed a passion for public service and leadership during his undergraduate years at UC Berkeley. Phil worked as a senior communications advisor in a campaign for North Carolina Lieutenant Governor, organized North Carolina law students for the Obama campaign, and received recognition from Duke Law and the North Carolina state bar for his pro bono work as a student. Phil proudly serves as a Trustee on the Glide Foundation Board of Trustees.

On April 12, 2011, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Brinker v. Superior Court (S166350). The opinion was highly anticipated because it could have potentially, on one extreme, eliminated wage and hour class actions based on break claims altogether or, on the other extreme, made employers strictly liable for missed breaks regardless of fault.

In finding a middle ground, the decision has a little something for everyone. With respect to meal periods, it held that an employer satisfies its obligation to “provide” a meal period “if it relieves an employee of all duty” for an uninterrupted 30-minute break and does “not impede or discourage” employees from taking this break. Once an employer meets this obligation, it is “not obligated to police meal periods and ensure no work is performed.” The court clarified that the employer must provide a first meal period after no more than five hours work and a second meal period after no more than ten hours of work, as opposed to every five hours as was argued by plaintiffs in the case.

The Supreme Court held that an employer satisfies its burden to “authorize and permit” a 10 minute rest break for each four hours of work “or major fraction thereof” through 10 minutes of rest break time for shifts of three and half hours to six hours, 20 minutes for shifts of more than six hours up to 10 hours, and 30 minutes for shifts or more than 10 hours and up to 14 hours, and so on. Rest breaks can occur at any time during the shift, either before or after the meal period.

Lastly, the Court indicated that there is no per se rule against using the class action device to address meal and rest breaks: “Claims alleging that a uniform policy consistently applied to a group of employees is in violation of the wage and hour laws are of the sort routinely, and properly, found suitable for class treatment.”

The Caucus also honored Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer-prizewinning reporter who revealed in mid-2011 that he was an undocumented immigrant, sparking a national discussion about immigration and the impact of immigration policies on Asian Americans.

The Asian Pacific American Democratic Caucus of Alameda County was officially chartered in March 2005. It is the first ever chartered club focusing on Asian Pacific Americans in Alameda County, formed to ensure equal participation in and support from the Democratic Party of Alameda County.

Dale has been recognized as one of the top personal injury attorneys in the Bay Area and leads Minami Tamaki’s Personal Injury practice. He also represents clients in the entertainment industry.

Kevin, an SCU alumni from 2005, was asked to participate in order to provide the plaintiffs’ perspective and to discuss issues related to litigating complex wage and hour class actions. The other panelists included defense attorneys, and fellow SCU alumni, Ernie M. Malaspina, a shareholder at Hopkins & Carley in San Jose and Alisha Louie, an associate at San Francisco’s Payne & Fears LLP.

Kevin graduated from SCU’s law school in the top 10 percent of his class. He was also a Technical Editor for the Santa Clara Law Review and received a Witkin award in both Antitrust and Criminal Procedure.

Selection to the National Trial Lawyers Association: Top 40 under 40 is based on a thorough multi-phase process which includes peer nominations combined with third-party research. The result is a credible, comprehensive and impressive list of young attorneys chosen to represent their state.

The Top 40 under 40 is restricted to only 40 attorneys per state per year. Attorneys must also specialize in the areas of civil plaintiff or criminal defense law.

Seth specializes in representing plaintiffs in state and federal courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings. He has obtained jury verdicts, arbitration awards, and settlements for his clients totaling millions of dollars. He successfully represents clients in all types of personal injury cases, including premises liability, vehicular negligence, products liability, medical malpractice, and wrongful death. His trial verdicts and settlements have been featured in many California legal periodicals, including The Recorder and The Daily Journal.

Senior Counsel B. Mark Fong, also in the firm’s Personal Injury practice, was selected in Oct. 2011 to be a member of the National Trial Lawyers, which is composed of the top 100 trial lawyers from each state.

The plaintiffs in the case allege that Samsung, Hitachi, Sharp and others “engaged in a worldwide, multiyear conspiracy to fix prices and hinder competition related to TFT-LCD panels, which are in TVs, notebooks and monitors.”

LCD Makers to Pay $539M to Settle Civil Antitrust Suits
By Ginny LaRoe, The Recorder
December 23, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO — On the heels of a plaintiff-friendly ruling in the TFT-LCD antitrust litigation, a group of manufacturer defendants is poised to settle for $539 million.

Co-lead plaintiffs’ counsel Francis Scarpulla of Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason and Joseph M. Alioto of Alioto Law Firm filed a motion for preliminary settlement approval on behalf of indirect purchaser plaintiffs and state attorneys general on Friday. They asked U.S. District Judge Susan Illston to sign off on a deal to resolve price-fixing claims against Samsung, Hitachi, Sharp, Chimei, Chunghwa, Epson and HannStar.

Plaintiffs allege the makers engaged in a worldwide, multiyear conspiracy to fix prices and hinder competition related to TFT-LCD panels, which are in TVs, notebooks and monitors.

The filing comes after Illston earlier this month rejected defendants’ renewed bid to toss the case for lack of antitrust standing on the part of indirect purchaser plaintiffs, saying the plaintiffs alleged injuries and the direct link between defendants’ alleged anti-competitive conduct “place this case squarely within the type of suit the antitrust laws were meant to address.”

Earlier this year a group of defendants settled with direct purchaser plaintiffs for around $388 million.

Plaintiffs asked for a Jan. 20 hearing before Illston, who presides over the consolidated multidistrict litigation and related criminal action.

Minami Tamaki partner Jack Lee is the court-appointed liaison in the action.