San-Chuen (“Sanny”) Lau

Ms. Lau has experience in all aspects of civil litigation, including discovery, law and motion, mediation, and trial.  She has successfully represented clients in general business disputes as well as in the areas of employment, insurance coverage and intellectual property law.  Ms. Lau has extensive experience in both state and federal courts and has appeared before administrative agencies, including the State Labor Commissioner, Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  Ms. Lau’s employment law experience includes litigating wage & hour, wrongful termination, sexual harassment and trade secret cases.  She has also counseled employers on various employment practices and policies, such as hiring, discipline, termination and family & medical leave.  In addition, Ms. Lau has spoken before ESL groups and employment workshops on wage & hour and wrongful termination laws.  Ms. Lau has also negotiated executive compensation agreements and advised on employment transition issues relating to mergers and acquisitions.

A San Francisco native, Ms. Lau has worked for Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May (now Reed Smith) and Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.  While in law school, Ms. Lau served as a judicial extern for The Honorable Saundra Brown Armstrong of the United States District Court, Northern District.  Ms. Lau also externed at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District, where she participated in the trial of one of the nation’s first cyber hate crime cases.

Ms. Lau is a member of the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco and has also worked with non-profits including the Asian Law Caucus, WriteGirl and the California Budget Project.  She is fluent in Cantonese and can speak Mandarin conversationally.  She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Mass Communications (Honors in Major) and received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she was a Joseph Drown Foundation Scholar.

Otis & Iriki
220 Montgomery Street, Suite 1900
San Francisco, CA 94104