FORMAL EDUCATION:
GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF LAW – LL.M. [Taxation] 1993
GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF LAW – J.D. 1990
Winner of three AMJUR awards.
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, HAYWARD – B.A., English, 1985
Winner “Outstanding Student Award”
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
July 2009 to present, JOHNSON LAW FIRM, Managing Partner
Estate planning practice with a focus on trusts, wills and powers of attorney for asset management and health care, conservatorships, guardianships and elder care issues. The practice is based on one to one personal service with quick turn around of custom created and carefully crafted documents that get you where you want to go.
I have worked with individuals and families to establish a new estate plan, to update or change and existing plan and to do trust administration, probate or non-probate administration, as needed. It is a very personal and interactive process. I work with clients so they understand what they want to do, what they have and so how to use the estate plan. It is all about making sure they have what they need when the time comes for it.
My practice is focused on the Bay Area but I have handled matters all over the State. With the ease and advent of virtual meetings, I have been able to help clients in more remote counties.
1993-to 2009 LEWIS & JOHNSON, Managing Partner
Labor and Employment Law, Disability Rights, Construction Disputes, Business Litigation {defense, licensing issues, contract interpretation and drafting}, Construction cases, Tax matters, Probate.
LEWIS & JOHNSON had a statewide litigation practice and handled litigation in Marin County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County, Inyo County, Los Angeles County, San Mateo County, Contra Costa County, Alameda County, Napa County, Sonoma County, San Francisco County, Monterey County, Ventura County, Sacramento County, Orange County and Kern County with litigation in both State and Federal Courts, including state and federal trials and appellate work including arguing in the California Supreme Court and over 20 appellate court cases.
Cancer discrimination was the bulk of our work after the ADA passed into law. Workplace discrimination cases were still the main part of our practice later. My Partner and I lectured on work related issues to cancer survivors throughout the State of California in the 90s. Our most recent trial was in October 2004 in USDC before Thelton Henderson.
1991-1993 LAW OFFICES OF ELIZ. C. A. JOHNSON
Probate and estate planning.
NOTABLE CASES:
Spear v. CSAA, (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1035, California Supreme Court, jointly prepared Supreme Court argument;
John R. Ulrich, Jr. v. City and County of San Francisco, United States District Court, Northern District of California, Case Number C 99-05003-THE, Date of Verdict: June 18, 2004, I was second chair in trial.
ASSOCIATIONS:
State Bar of California
American Bar Association
Bar Association of San Francisco
Women Tax Lawyers, Contra Costa County Bar Association
ADMISSIONS:
Supreme Court of the State of California
United States Tax Court
United States District Court of California [Northern District]
APPOINTMENTS:
On volunteer staff with AIDS Legal Referral Panel since 1993.
Referral panel member for Ted Mann Resource Center for cancer survivors.
Referral panel member for American Cancer Society.
Referral panel member for Cancer Legal Resources Project of Loyola.
SEMINARS:
Rhonda Fleming Mann Resource Center, UCLA, “Insights into Cancer” Series, July 12, 1994.
MCLE course, Queens’ Bench, brown bag lunch seminar, ADA and FEHA in employment discrimination, 1994.
California Association of Laryngectomees 14th Annual Conference, presentation, “Rights of the Disabled under the ADA”; Los Angeles, 1995.
PRO BONO:
I worked seven years on an elder abuse case where I went initially just to do a free will for a terminally ill man and found a roommate had assumed his financial identity and stolen or tried to steal everything.
Conservatorship of Harold. L. P. F., Alameda County
Elder abuse case of abandoned man with combative dementia who was made to sign Powers of Attorney.
Conservatorship of Sam B., Alameda County
CALL: 925-362-1010