Christopher’s practice focuses on labor and employment law, and his expertise includes representing employers in a union environment, including labor negotiations, changes to existing terms and conditions of employment and/or the effects of those changes, and the meaning and application of labor contract provisions. He also serves as trusted counsel to employers throughout California regarding employee discipline, due process, grievance procedure issues, reasonable accommodation, and other labor and employment law matters. His clients greatly value his extensive practical human resources and labor negotiations experience, in addition to his legal skills.
Experience
Prior to entering private law practice, Christopher spent over a decade as a seasoned human resources executive with a broad spectrum of industry experience, including municipalities, public utilities, aviation, maritime, special districts, K-12 as well as higher education. Most notably, Christopher served as the Port of Oakland’s Director of Human Resources from 2014 to 2018, where he directed the Port’s human resources, labor relations, benefits, EEO, leaves and disability compliance, occupational health and safety, and workers’ compensation functions.
Education & Training
Christopher earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated cum laude from the Abraham Lincoln University School of Law. In addition, he received a professional certificate from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and attended the Harvard Negotiation Institute at Harvard Law School.
Awards & Recognitions
Christopher was featured as one of 2016’s national “Top Five Rising Stars” by Human Resource Executive magazine, and he received prominent recognitions for his accomplishments as an attorney from America’s Top 50 Lawyers as well as Elite Lawyer, and he was also named Top Lawyer by the American Institute of Legal Advocates, which identify and highlight the accomplishments of the nation’s most distinguished and skilled attorneys in all fields of practice of law.
Skills
In addition to his advocacy skills, Christopher has successfully utilized his mediation training to achieve settlements on labor and employment matters. As an experienced workplace investigator, Christopher holds the Association of Workplace Investigators Certificate Holder (AWI-CH) credential, in addition to serving as part-time faculty for the Association’s Training Institute for Workplace Investigators. He is also a frequent speaker at a variety of conferences on labor and employment law topics, including legal updates and keynotes.
Expert Witness
As a former experienced human resources professional and now an attorney-at-law, Christopher is available to testify, among other issues, workplace investigations, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation prevention programs, complaint procedures, interactive process and accommodation issues, performance evaluations, disciplinary action decisions, and employee terminations. Christopher’s expertise includes public employee due process rights and discipline involving represented (union) employees.