Stephen Hirschfeld is a founding partner with the law firm of Curiale Dellaverson Hirschfeld & Kraemer, LLP, in San Francisco, California. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Employment Law Alliance, the world’s largest network of labor and employment lawyers.  His practice involves labor, employment and higher education law and related litigation on behalf of management.

Mr. Hirschfeld advises clients throughout the country on day-to-day legal issues affecting the workplace, including employee discipline and terminations, sexual harassment and other employee misconduct, union organizing, workforce reductions, discrimination claims, proprietary information and trade secrets disputes, substance abuse, workplace privacy, disability accommodations, and other human resources issues. Mr. Hirschfeld has substantial experience negotiating and preparing executive employment agreements and executive separation packages. He works closely with his clients' executives, board of directors, and human resource professionals addressing employment law issues triggered by mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, and reorganizations. His clients range from Fortune 50 companies to small, growing firms. He takes a proactive approach when advising clients, emphasizing creative solutions to employee relations problems. He frequently represents employers in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies on a variety of litigation matters involving the employer-employee relationship.

Mr. Hirschfeld routinely counsels management about ways to prevent costly and protracted litigation. He provides legal training to his clients' executives, managers, and supervisors on how to make sound human resource decisions, while at the same time minimizing wrongful termination, discrimination, and sexual harassment claims. Mr. Hirschfeld is a member of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the State Bar of California (Labor and Employment Law Section), the Missouri Bar and the National Association of College and University Attorneys.  Mr. Hirschfeld is co-author of Stopping Sexual Harassment In The Workplace:  An Employer’s Guide and Conducting An Effective Internal Investigation.  He is co-author of Office Romance: Are the rules changing?, Across the Board, Policymakers, Take Note: The Force Is With Workplace Bloggers, San Francisco Daily Journal (2007), Stopping Sexual Harassment:  An Employer’s Guide and Workplace Bullying: The Next Legal Frontier?, San Francisco Daily Journal Employment.  Mr. Hirschfeld was a contributing author for The CEO Contract: Creating a Winning Partnership (Community College Press, 1996) and How ADR Works (BNA 2000).

Mr. Hirschfeld was named by Who’s Who Legal – Management Labor and Employment Law as one of the top 10 labor and employment lawyers in San Francisco and one of the top 25 in California as well as one of the top labor and employment lawyers in the United States by The Expert Guide.  He is listed in Northern California Super Lawyers 2007.  He is regularly quoted and featured in publications such as The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and San Jose Mercury News, as well as contributing to national and local television and radio programs including CNBC and National Public Radio.  One of his recent publications, "Sound Investigation: The Key to Defensible Human Resource Action," appeared in the College and University Personnel Association Journal. Mr. Hirschfeld is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of College University Attorneys and a past Co-Chair of NACUA's Employment Law Section.

Mr. Hirschfeld has extensive experience counseling higher education institutions ranging from major public research universities to small private liberal arts colleges. Mr. Hirschfeld's university work has included overseeing internal investigations involving employee, student, and faculty misconduct; negotiating and drafting executive contracts; faculty tenure issues; union organizing; sexual harassment; and wrongful termination matters.

Practice Areas
Labor and Employment Law Counseling and Advice
Wrongful Termination, Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Litigation
Negotiating and Drafting Executive Employment Contracts and Executive Separation Packages Management Training
Conducting Independent Internal Investigations of Employee Misconduct
Management - Union Labor Relations

Education
George Washington University, J.D., 1982
St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1979

Bar Admissions
California
Missouri

shirschfeld@cdhklaw.com