Biography

Kari Erickson Levine is a partner in the Complex Discrimination Litigation Practice Group in Seyfarth Shaw’s San Francisco office. Ms. Levine’s practice focuses on labor and employment law on behalf of management. Since 1998, she has represented employers in all aspects of labor and employment law and litigation, including state and federal employment discrimination litigation, wrongful discharge litigation, arbitrations, FMLA, CFRA, OSHA, ADA, and wage and hour litigation. Ms. Levine has a primary emphasis in her practice on defending employers sued in employment-related class actions and EEOC pattern or practice lawsuits brought in federal and state courts throughout the United States. She also has an expertise in Title III ADA access litigation. Her practice includes jury and administrative trials and federal and state appellate advocacy (she has unparalleled trial experience for a civil litigator, having begun her practice in 1990 as a Deputy District Attorney for the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office).

In addition to her litigation expertise, Ms. Levine advises clients in various aspects of Human Resources including employee handbooks and general labor and employment counseling, and she trains managers, supervisors, and employees on a multitude of employment law topics, including sex harassment, discrimination, ADA, FMLA, CFRA, and dealing with the problem employee. Ms. Levine has exceptional interpersonal skills and is dynamic, empathic and passionate about the practice of law and solving the problems faced by her clients.

Ms. Levine is on the Firm’s Lawyer Development Committee, and since she made partner in 1999, has been on the San Francisco office’s Hiring Committee, which she has chaired for the past five years. Ms. Levine’s pro bono activities include service as a Judge Pro Tempore for the San Francisco Superior Court, pro bono counsel for TRI4MS (a non-profit organization associated with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, started by a triathlete with MS), and a board member and pro bono counsel for a local non-profit school. She is a Past President of the Board of Directors for Real Alternatives for Adolescents (RAFA).

Education

J.D., University of California at Hastings, College of Law (1989)
B.A., University of California at San Diego (1987)

Admissions

• California

Courts

• U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of California