Overview
Emaleigh Valdez represents California school districts and county offices of education in a variety of labor and employment and general education matters. Her areas of expertise include leaves of absence, reasonable accommodation of employee disabilities, investigations, employee evaluation and discipline, equal employment opportunity laws, retirement benefit issues, school district audit appeals, issues related to collective bargaining, and workplace safety and violence issues. She also represents education clients in administrative hearings and civil litigation in state court.
Ms. Valdez joined the firm as a Law Clerk during law school. At that time, she worked on legal research and matters such as client advice letters; responses to COVID-19 mask mandates for students, staff, and teachers; and waivers of liability.
Honors & Recognitions
Order of the Coif
Paul, Plevin, Sullivan & Connaughton, LLP Award (highest cumulative GPA in Employment & Labor Law Concentration)
CALI Awards for Excellence (highest grade in the course) 2021: Tax I, California Civil Procedure, Labor Law, Employment Discrimination, Contract Drafting
Practice Areas
Practice Areas
- California, Federal & Local Agency Claims
- Charter Schools
- Contract Enforcement & Collective Bargaining
- Discrimination & Harassment
- Education
- Employee Performance & Evaluation
- Employment Policies, Procedures & Training
- IDEA/Education Code, Section 504 and ADA
- Investigations
- Labor & Employment Law
- Leaves of Absence
- Student Discipline
- Student Services and Disabilities