Bio

Kristin Smith is a senior associate in WSHB’s Northern California office, where her practice focuses on employment litigation and advice and counseling. She has over 14 years of experience handling employment matters from wage and hour cases to discrimination and wrongful termination. She has litigated employment matters at all levels, from state and federal actions to administrative employment matters. Kristin has managed non-litigation transactions and alternative dispute resolution proceedings as well as advised clients on day-to-day human resource issues, compliance, policy updates, and employee training. She has published several articles and spoken to employers and attorneys alike at seminars and on panels, regarding the challenges employers face in the workplace with California’s ever-changing legal landscape.

Kristin is actively involved in the community, serving as a director on both the Board of the Alameda County Bar Association and the Board of Women Lawyers of Alameda County. She also sits on the Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment Section of the Alameda County Bar Association. She is an Alumni Ambassador and former Chair of the California Minority Counsel Program, Ambassador’s Council, and a former volunteer for both the Alameda County Bar Association’s Lawyers in the Library Program and the Bar Association of San Francisco Volunteer Legal Services Program. She is also a former Local Advisory Council of Oakland Member for PlayWorks (formerly Sports4Kids) and is a School Site Council Member of several local schools in Contra Costa County. She is a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and the Director of Oakland for the Max Rhymes Foundation.

Kristin attended law school at the University of California Hastings, College of the Law. While in law school she litigated her first employment case in Alameda County Superior Court, with Hastings Civil Justice Clinic. She was also the Vice President of the Black Law Student Association. She also externed for the Honorable Randall J. Newsome (Ret.) at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

Prior to attending law school, Kristin received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics and African American studies with a minor in Accounting. While an undergrad, Kristin was a college honors student. She also served as the Los Angeles Leadership Education And Development Program (LEAD) Alumni Association Coordinator.