Kelly Y. Chen, Esq.
Tamara S. Freeze, Esq.
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KELLY Y. CHEN 

Ms. Chen graduated from University of California Hastings College of the Law.  While in law school, Ms. Chen was a member of Hastings Civil Justice Clinic.   She earned the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence and the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for her work at Civil Justice Clinic (Individual Representation).   She was a recipient of California Employment Lawyers Association’s (CELA’s) Diversity Scholarship.   In addition to a law degree, Ms. Chen has a M.A. degree in Psychology from University of California at Santa Barbara where she was a Ph.D. candidate.    Prior to attending graduate school, Ms. Chen received a B.A. degree in Psychology from University of California at Irvine with honor.

Ms. Chen currently works as an Of Counsel at the Law Offices of Eric E. Castelblanco, a public interest firm that serves primarily the underserved Latino community.  Before her admission to the California Bar, she worked as a law clerk at the firm.  During the first two years of law school, Ms. Chen worked in-house for an insurance company headquartered in San Francisco handling transactional and compliance matters.

Ms. Chen is passionate about representing the traditionally underserved populations, including: low-wage workers, immigrant employees, and the LGBT workforce.   She is fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese.

EDUCATION:

 

University of California Hastings College of the Law    
     J.D., Doctor of Jurisprudence    
     Honors: Recipient, CELA Diversity Scholarship    
     Honors: Recipient, Witkin Award for Academic Excellence, Civil Justice Clinic
     Honors: Recipient, CALI Excellence for the Future Award, Civil Justice Clinic

University of California at Santa Barbara    
     M.A., Master of Arts     Ph.D. Candidate    
     Major: PsychologyUniversity of California at Irvine    

B.A., Bachelor of Arts    
     Major: Psychology    
     Honors: Honors in Psychology Program     
     Honors: Recipient, Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Fellowship

ADMISSIONS:     

     State Bar of California

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS:    
 
     California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA)
     Legal Eagles for Truth, Justice & American Way (LEFTJAW)        
     National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)    

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:

     California Employment Lawyers Association 2009 Annual Conference, Oakland, California, Speaker on Surviving and Thriving in Solo Practice
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We are associated with Law Offices of Tamara S. Freeze  www.freezelawoffice.com

TAMARA S. FREEZE

Tamara S. Freeze is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law and is highly experienced in labor and employment matters as well as general civil litigation, including contract disputes, intellectual property, education law, constitutional law, class action, civil rights, human rights and sports and entertainment law. Before opening her own practice, she worked for several big law firms in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Orange County. Ms. Freeze is comfortable litigating cases and representing clients throughout California.

Ms. Freeze has substantial experience representing clients in discrimination and harassment disputes, wrongful discharge, breach of contract, unfair labor practice charges, and for unpaid compensation and benefits. Ms. Freeze frequently advises employees on the hiring and termination, the enforcement of company policies and practices, labor-management relations, wage and hour compliance, alternative dispute resolution, international employment law issues, trade secrets, severance negotiations and class action strategy. She has experience vigorously defending employee rights, educating drafting employment and settlement agreements, independently supervising cases, calculating settlement ranges and managing litigation.

As part of her practice, Ms. Freeze represents employees in state and federal courts throughout California, as well as in administrative proceedings, such as EEOC or DFEH. She is familiar with human resources procedures, business programs for employee recruitment, processing, orientation, performance evaluation systems, and employee counseling.

EDUCATION:    

J.D. University of California, Berkeley    
B.A. University of California, Los Angeles

ADMISSIONS:    

State Bar of California

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS:    

American Bar Association    
Los Angeles County Bar Association/Orange County Bar Association
National Employment Lawyers’ Association    
California Employment Lawyers’ Association

EXPERIENCE:    

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, LLP (Los Angeles)     
Littler Mendelson, P.C. (San Francisco)      J
effer Mangels Butler & Marmaro, LLP (Los Angeles)     
Bryan Cave LLP (Irvine)

PUBLICATIONS:

Ms. Freeze is also an author of several publications, such as “Evaluating Eligibility for FMLA Leave: Federal Case Law Underscores the Need for Informed Decision Making,” The Labor Lawyer, August 2006; Whitepaper “Strategic Initiatives for Countering the Class Action Epidemic,” May 2006, and a co-author, 2006 “Equity Compensation,” The National Employer.

Medical Leave of Absence:       
“Evaluating Eligibility for FMLA Leave: Federal Case Law Underscores the Need for Informed Decision Making,”  The Labor Lawyer, August 2006

Class Action:      
“Strategic Initiatives for Countering the Class Action Epidemic,”          
Littler Mendelson Whitepaper, May 2006

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:

Career Builders 2007 at the Crystal Cathedral, Women in Business Expo 2007, and South Bay For You Women's Network.

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

In 2008, Ms. Freeze was nominated for Los Angeles Business Journal “Women Who Make a Difference” Award. In 2007, she received a National Association of Female Executives (NAFE) Best Blog Award for her blog “Managing Your Employees.” Ms. Freeze’s other awards include: the Prosser Prize in Local Government Law (2003), the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Award (2003), Kurnitz Creative Writing Award (1st place, 2000), and University of Oxford Young Enterprise Award (1996).