Our Members
Edward Joy
Edward Joy has his own law practice specializing in estate planning, probate and trust administration in the San Francisco Bay Area. Edward received a B.A. in Economics from Washington & Lee University where he graduated summa cum laude and First in Class from the School of Economics; and he received a J.D. from Harvard Law School where he graduated cum laude. Out of law school, Edward worked in San Francisco's Financial District practicing business litigation for Fortune 500 companies. Edward was an associate with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (1992-1995) and a senior associate with Marron-Reid LLP (1995-1999) and Preuss, Walker & Shanagher LLP (1999-2000). In 2000, Edward formed his own civil litigation practice where he was able to focus on representing smaller, family-owned businesses.
In 2009, Edward had a life changing experience. One of his best friends was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Edward helped him with his estate plan. Getting his friend's financial and personal affairs in order brought his friend a great measure of peace even in the midst of the turmoil of his illness. This was by far the most moving experience of Edward's legal career. As a result, Edward became an estate planning attorney.
Edward is a founding member of the Minority Bar Exchange. He is a Northern California Super Lawyer, an award reserved for the top 5% of all attorneys in Northern California. Edward is featured in Forbes.com, Planning For Your Death -- Why It's Crucial For The Living. He is a former Board Member of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the United States' oldest and largest bar association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender attorneys. He was awarded the Minority Bar Coalition's Unity Award for building coalitions to advance the cause of diversity in the legal profession, and he is also an AIDS Legal Referral Panel Award recipient for "generously donating time and expertise to protect the legal rights" of people living with HIV / AIDS.
Felicia Medina is a founding partner of Medina Orthwein LLP, where she specializes in employment discrimination, sexual harassment, whistleblower protections, wage and hour, Title IX, and and civil rights for prisoners. In the early part of her career, Ms. Medina stood out as a top litigator helping to secure the largest employment gender discrimination class action verdict in U.S. history. (Velez v. Novartis (S.D.N.Y. 2010)). She quickly rose through the ranks from Associate to Managing Partner in Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP's San Francisco office, an office she opened, becoming one of the few queer women of color in a leadership position in a national firm. Felicia most recently settled a pre-suit $19.5 million gender discrimination class action against Qualcomm, which is pending court approval. Prior to her work on the Qualcomm matter, Felicia secured an $8.2 million gender discrimination class action settlement with Daiichi Sankyo, the first case to be conditionally certified under the Equal Pay Act in the 9th Circuit. She has served as counsel in two wage and hour mass actions against Google and Oracle in addition to leading several pre-suit negotiations for aggrieved employees and working mothers in the technology, pharmaceutical, finance, legal, and public relations industries.
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Felicia has been honored as a 2016 National LGBT Bar Association “Best LGBT Lawyer Under 40;” a 2015 National Diversity Council “Most Powerful and Influential Woman;” and a Law360 2014 “Minority Power Broker.” Felicia received her law degree from Yale Law School in 2006.
Prior to attending Yale, she was a political consultant and a public school teacher. Before founding Medina Orthwein LLP, Felicia was the Managing Partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP's San Francisco office and an Associate at Morrison and Foerster, LLP.
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Felicia Medina
Ann Cun
Ann Cun is the Managing Attorney at Accel Visa Attorneys, PC. She has worked in the field of U.S. immigration since 2001 with world renowned universities, tech companies and investors. She has successfully helped research scientists, doctors, actors, artists, and professionals obtain work visas by preparing hundreds of Extraordinary Ability, Outstanding Researcher, National Interest Waiver and Multinational Manager Immigrant petitions with a 95% success rate. She has defended employers against government site visits and I-9 audits and has counseled companies on ITAR/EAR regulations as they impact corporate immigration policies. She has helped companies refine and develop from scratch their immigration policies in order to remain competitive employers in the Bay Area. Prior to founding Accel Visa Attorneys, PC in 2016, Ann practiced immigration law at notable firms in California.
Ann received her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and her law degree from UC Hastings. She is licensed to practice law in the State of California and an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Ann has presented often on topics relating to immigration law, practice, policy and compliance. Ann has authored more than 250 articles on immigration.
Billy Chan is a business transactions lawyer. He handles business and corporate work for new companies, established businesses, individual entrepreneurs, family shops, large enterprises, multi-entity groups, private firms, small corporations, and big partnerships. He has run his own law firm for more than 10 years, and before that he was an associate at Hanson Bridgett.
Billy completed his undergraduate education at UCLA, where he graduated with honors. He attended law school at Berkeley, then-known as the UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). Billy is an active member of the legal community. He is a Past President of both the Asian American Bar Association and the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California. He has served as the Chair of the Solo and Small Firm Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and previously held the Secretary position of that organization. He is a founding and active member of the National Filipino American Lawyers Association.
His pro bono efforts include service as General Counsel of the San Francisco Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce, Secretary and General Counsel of the Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce of Northern California, and General Counsel of the Young Filipino Professionals Association. Billy has received awards from the Minority Bar Coalition and the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California for his service to the San Francisco community. He has been recognized each year from 2009 through 2016 by Northern California Super Lawyers.
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Billy Chan
Jonah Chew
Jonah Chew has over 17 years of experience in the courtroom, earning him a reputation as one of San Francisco’s most aggressive and effective criminal litigators. His work and expertise in a wide range of criminal cases has earned him media coverage in numerous Bay Area publications.
Soon after earning his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1998, he opened a two attorney criminal defense practice. Three years later, he was hired at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, considered among the best public defender offices in the United States. It was there he sharpened his skills as a top trial attorney, representing thousands of clients, writing and arguing hundreds of motions and successfully defending people in cases ranging from simple drug possession, assaults, to manslaughter. In 2006, the Law Office of Jonah Chew was opened.
Since its opening, Mr. Chew has further established his reputation as a well respected defense attorney who has consistently obtained exceptional results whether in trial, evidentiary hearings, or by negotiation in hundreds of cases. He is an expert in dealing with complex criminal issues and assists his clients in navigating through the intricacies of the legal system. His current and recent past clients include those charged with serious felonies, 3 strikes, homicide, as well as complex white collar fraud and embezzlement cases.
Recently, Mr. Chew has been a speaker at the NAPABA conferences (2014 and 2016) as well as faculty at the University of San Francisco’s Intensive Advocacy Program (2016). Additionally, he is a founding member and current treasurer of the Asian American Criminal Trial Lawyer’s Association (AACTLA) and sits as its representative to the Joint Asian Bar Associations Judicial Committee.
Aubrey Hone
Aubrey Hone is the founding partner of Hone Maxwell LLP. Ms. Hone specializes in tax controversies and tax litigation with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), California Franchise Tax Board (FTB), California Employment Development Department (EDD), California Board of Equalization (BOE) and other state taxing authorities. Ms. Hone represents clients in both civil and criminal tax controversies including IRS criminal investigations and prosecutions, offshore matters, voluntary disclosures, audits, appeals, litigation and collections.
Ms. Hone is active with the tax section of the California Bar. She currently serves on the executive committee for the Tax Procedure and Litigation Section Committee. In 2016 Ms. Hone was named as a Rising Star by Northern California Super Lawyers©. Ms. Hone has also been recognized for her work providing pro bono legal services for taxpayers who are unable to afford representation and she continues to serve as a pro bono attorney for the AIDS Legal Referral Panel.
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John Hong
John S. Hong is a shareholder at the world’s premier law firm concentrating exclusive on employment and labor law. John represents exclusively employers, with clients ranging from mom and pop restaurants to multi-national corporations. John provides advice and counseling on a wide variety of matters in all areas of labor and employment law, including:
• Wage and hour claims, such as claims involving minimum wage obligations, overtime wage compensation obligations, the regular rate, classification of employees as overtime exempt, and meal and rest break issues
• Harassment and discrimination claims, including claims based on race, national origin, sex and disability
• Human resources decisions, including policies, practices, and processes regarding pay, breaks, handbooks, leaves of absences, workers’ compensation, disability, training, hiring, discipline and separation of employment
In addition to counseling employers, John also represents employers in single plaintiff and class action litigation before state, federal, and administrative courts, including the California Labor Commissioner, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Department of Labor and the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. John is licensed to practice law in California, and his partners are licensed to practice in all 50 states and worldwide.
John is also involved in various communities. John is past president of the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California (KABANC), a past member of the board of governors of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), current member of the Labor and Employment Law Advisory Board of the University of San Francisco School of Law, and current member of the advisory board for Bridging Education & Art Together (BEAT Global), a non-profit organization dedicated to education and speech therapy through hip hop.
John is a graduate of Davidson College and the University of San Francisco School of Law.
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Jane Kim
Jane Kim is a partner at Keller & Benvenutti, a boutique law firm in San Francisco that focuses on bankruptcy and restructuring law, as well as bankruptcy and general commercial litigation. Jane has represented debtors in possession, secured lenders, creditors, including members of official committees, prospective investors, and directors and officers of corporations. Most recently, Jane represented Delivery Agent, Inc. – a company with e-commerce and interactive TV advertising businesses – and its subsidiaries in their chapter 11 bankruptcy in the District of Delaware. She managed two sales processes that resulted in the sale of substantially all of the debtors’ assets.
Before joining Keller & Benvenutti in 2014, Jane was associated with Cleary Gottlieb, a large international law firm, in New York. Jane represented Nortel Networks Inc. as it filed its chapter 11 petition and operated within bankruptcy, and she advised the company through many of the sales of its businesses and assets, which generated a total of $7.5 billion in sale proceeds and involved coordinating insolvency proceedings across multiple regimes around the world.
Jane is a member of the board of directors of the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum and a member of the board of the Northern California network of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation. Jane received her B.A. from Columbia College, Columbia University, and her law degree from Harvard Law School in 2002. She is admitted to practice in California and New York.
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Brian Kim
Brian H. Kim is a founding partner of Bolt Keenley Kim LLP, representing individual insurance policyholders in pre-litigation appeals and litigation under the federal Employment Retirement Income and Security Act (ERISA) and California insurance law, in the areas of disability, health, life and annuity insurance benefits.
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Brian received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1996 and his Juris Doctor degree from the Gould School of Law, University of Southern California in 2001, where he served as a Staff Editor on the Southern California Law Review. Mr. Kim was formerly the Chair of the Insurance Section of the American Association for Justice from 2014 to 2015 and previously served as a Board Member of the Alameda Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association. He has been named a Northern California Super Lawyer in the field of Employee Benefits by the Northern California SuperLawyers magazine every year since 2014.
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http://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-kim-6a46945/
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David Mesa is a Senior Associate in the San Francisco office of Sedgwick LLP.
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He is a litigator in the Product Liability group defending drug, medical device and consumer product manufacturers in multiple state jurisdictions. He represents Fortune 1000 companies and manages cases in all phases of litigation. In addition, Mr. Mesa is part of the Retail & Fashion Industry group representing retailers in litigation and counseling clients in compliance with state and local laws, regulations and agency mandates. He also represents commercial property owners in significant injury cases.
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Mr. Mesa is President-Elect of the National Filipino American Lawyers Association (NFALA). He also serves on the Board of Governors for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) as Regional Governor for the Northern California region. Regionally, Mr. Mesa is on the Advisory Board of the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California and chairs its judiciary committee, and previously served as President, VP and Treasurer.
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In 2014, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association named Mr. Mesa a “Rising Star” and featured him in Diversity and the Bar magazine. Only 12 “Rising Stars” were selected from across the country. In 2013, Mr. Mesa received the Unity Award from the Minority Bar Coalition. He is also a 2-time attendee of the Collaborative Bar Leadership Academy, a joint initiative of the ABA and the four major national minority bar associations, including NAPABA, designed to train the next generation of national bar association leaders. More recently, in 2015 and 2016, Mr. Mesa was selected as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers Magazine. In 2017, he was appointed co-chair of Sedgwick San Francisco's Inclusion and Diversity Committee.
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David Mesa
Demián Oksenendler
Demián Oksenendler is an attorney at Mannion & Lowe, P.C. in San Francisco, where he represents policyholders in litigation against insurance companies of all kinds. His practice covers various lines of insurance, including liability, property/casualty, disability and life. He is the Chair of the State Bar Committee on Group Insurance Programs (“COGIP”), an active member of the American Association for Justice, the Consumer Attorneys of California, the Western Trial Lawyers Association, the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, and the American Inns of Court. 2016 marks his sixth consecutive selection to the Northern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. Outside of the office, he enjoys cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge and through the hills of Marin, singing with the UC Mens Octet Alumni Club, and attending San Francisco Giants games.
Languages spoken: English, Spanish.
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Mark Punzalan
Mark Punzalan is the Principal Attorney of Punzalan Law, P.C., a Silicon Valley boutique with a focus on Intellectual Property and Commercial Litigation. Mark primarily advises companies and individuals in the areas of trade secret disputes, trademark matters, and complex business disputes. Mark was selected as a "Super Lawyer" in 2016 and as a "Rising Star" in 2015 in the Northern California SuperLawyers magazine.
Mark has served on the Board or on leadership committees with a number of diversity bar organizations, including the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley, the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California, and the National Filipino Lawyers Association.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markpunzalan
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Maymei Szeto founded Szeto Law Group in 2006 and has focused her practice in the areas of real estate, landlord - tenant, business, employment, and civil litigation. Prior to that, she had acquired a wealth of experience in transactional and litigation work from her employment at some of the San Francisco Bay Area's premier law firms.
On the transactional side, Maymei drafts, revises and negotiates various types of contracts including consulting agreements, employment agreements, subcontractor agreements, severance agreements, real estate sales agreements and residential leases. She also assist clients with the legal structuring of their businesses, the drafting of employment-related documents, vendor contracts and commercial leases. Maymei has also assisted with incorporations, dissolutions, mergers and acquisitions.
On the litigation side, Maymei has litigated cases involving breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unfair business practices, fraud, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, nuisance, unlawful detainers (evictions), breach of leases, breach of covenant of quiet enjoyment, habitability issues, negligence, quiet title and partition.
Maymei has also represented clients at numerous mediations and arbitrations, including arbitrations before the San Francisco Rent Board. She counsels corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, sole proprietorships, and individuals in various industries including high technology, marketing, media, e-commerce, event planning, transportation, real estate construction, real estate sales, mortgage lending, property management, temporary housing, hospitality, restaurants, retail establishments, product distributors and product wholesalers.
Maymei obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley and her law degree at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She is a member of the California State Bar and has been admitted to practice before the United States District Court, Northern District of California. Maymei is also a licensed California Real Estate Broker.
Maymei Szeto
Jaime Touchstone
Jaime Touchstone is Senior Counsel at Futterman Dupree Dodd Croley Maier LLP, a San Francisco boutique firm with a focus on general civil, complex commercial and employment litigation and counseling. Jaime handles all aspects of the litigation process, including case evaluation, legal research, discovery, motion practice, and alternative dispute resolution, including mediation and settlement conferences. She regularly appears in state and federal courts on behalf of privately and publicly held businesses, partnerships, sole proprietorships, public entities, receivers and individuals. Jaime also provides employment law advice to her clients, including in the areas of wage & hour compliance, wrongful termination, severance agreements, trade secrets, and drafting of employment handbooks and policies for large and small businesses.
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Jaime is a leader in the legal community. She served as President of the Queen's Bench Bar Association in 2015 and Queen's Bench Foundation President in 2016. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Barristers Club, and assisted with creation of the Barristers Club's 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of the Pro Bono Resource Guide to San Francisco Bay Area Volunteer Opportunities for Lawyers and Law Firms. Jaime is a member of the State Bar of California, the Bar Association of San Francisco and the Queen's Bench Bar Association. She has been named as a Northern California “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers every year since 2009. In December 2009, Jaime was named Barrister of the Year by the San Francisco Bar Association.
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Jaime is a regular contributor to the California Employment Law Letter. Recent topics include wrongful termination, unlimited vacation policies, overtime, meal and rest breaks, minimum wage, class certification, discrimination, respondeat superior, workers’ compensation, and arbitration agreements.
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Jaime is admitted to practice law before all of the state courts for California, the United States District Courts for the Northern District of California, the Eastern District of California, the Central District of California, the Southern District of California and the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit. She graduated from the University of Colorado and earned her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2004.
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Robert Uy
Robert Uy is experienced in immigration, family law (divorce), domestic violence and human trafficking law. He has experience in employment-based visa applications, PERM applications, H-1B, VAWA, U-Visa, T-Visa, immigrant visa petitions, consular processing, adjustment of status, appellate work, asylum, and removal proceedings. Robert is also an experienced in all aspects of divorce, dissolution proceedings, restraining orders and in the drafting of prenuptial agreements.
Robert was previously an associate at a well-regarded, full-service immigration law firm in San Francisco. Previously, Robert was a Staff Attorney and the immigration project lead at API Legal Outreach. There he coordinated six legal clinics throughout the bay area. Robert has previous been published in the Berkeley Journal of Gender Law and Justice and currently serves as a columnist for Philippine News. He has frequently been invited to speak at public interest law events, and other professional events as an expert on immigration law. Robert has been invited to speak at UC Berkeley School of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law, USF School of Law, Golden Gate University School of Law, Stanford University, UC Hastings School of Law and various other educational institutions throughout the bay area.
Robert has taught CLE courses with the American Immigration Lawyer's Association and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Robert is an outgoing Regional Governor of the National Filipino Lawyers Association. Robert is the past president of the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California. During his term, he also established the FBANC Law Foundation and served as it's first President, in it's current incarnation.
He is also Director-at-Large for the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area. Robert is formerly the President of the Alliance for Community Empowerment (ALLICE) Kumares and Kumpares community organization and formerly Vice President of the Pilipino Bayanihan Resource Center. Robert has been selected to the 2014, 2015, and 2016 Northern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. Robert has been recognized for his contributions to the community through commendations from the city of Daly City and the City of San Francisco.
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Robert is a graduate of Santa Clara University School of Law. There, he received a CALI award for outstanding achievement in Advanced Immigration Law. Prior to law school, Robert graduated from the University of California Los Angeles. Robert is currently a certified AYSO soccer coach and is the head coach of a U8 boys team.
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Jim Yu
Courage. Integrity. And a never-wavering determination to do right in support of his clients.
Attorney Jim Yu can be counted on to bring all of these important qualities to every case he handles. Clients and colleagues recognize Jim as a “go-to” person for his knowledge, integrity and ethics. He is known for being patient, thorough and positive. Jim learned at an early age about the importance of strong standards and ethics. An immigrant himself, he learned about the many opportunities afforded those who live and work in the United States. He also saw first-hand the injustices that often prevent others from living full lives. Jim was inspired by his family to work hard and prepare to be the strong and effective advocate he is today.
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A 1995 graduate from the University of California at Berkeley with High Honors, he worked two jobs to support himself. He earned his law degree in 1999 from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in personal injury law. While many of Jim’s fellow students became corporate attorneys in New York and D.C., Jim returned to the Bay Area after graduation to begin his career as a personal injury attorney. He has helped people from all walks of life obtain the compensation and medical care that they deserve and need. Through negotiations, mediations, arbitrations, and jury trials, he has recovered millions of dollars on behalf of his clients.
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In the spring of 2013, after a decade with a highly-regarded Bay Area personal injury firm, Jim opened up his own law practice in Walnut Creek. In 2015, he opened a satellite office in Santa Clara to better serve South Bay clients. He continues his commitment to serve injury victims and the community at large.
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Jim is honored and humbled to have been recognized for his professionalism and accomplishments with a number of awards and ratings:
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In 2014, he was president of the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association.
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In 2016, he was selected as a Northern California Super Lawyer (given to the top 5 percent of lawyers).
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In 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014, he was selected as a Northern California Super Lawyer Rising Star.
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Jim has been named a Top 40 Lawyer Under the Age of 40 by The National Trial Lawyers.
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He holds a 10.0 Superb rating on Avvo.com, the ratings and review site for lawyers.
Jim speaks Mandarin Chinese and some Spanish, in addition to English. Jim Yu will help you hold the wrongdoer responsible and get you the compensation you need and deserve."
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