Alison L. Lynch

Alison L. Lynch is the office managing principal of the Orange County, California, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. and the former co-leader of the firm’s Practicing and Parenting resource group. The group helps lawyer-parents at Jackson Lewis balance client service and childcare obligations, empowering them to bring their best to both roles through applying time-management and social-development skills in their practice.

Employment law was a natural fit for Alison, whose affinity for helping people has motivated her throughout her career to deliver proactive counseling and winning litigation strategies to her clients. As relationship manager for national employers, Alison values the true partnership she has forged with her clients. With every case she handles, she takes time to learn the business of her clients so that she can be a strategic advisor, tell their stories, and bring creative solutions to every workplace law problem.

Alison has in-depth knowledge of unique workplace issues, having served clients in several industries, including pharmaceutical, hospitality, technology, food manufacturing and construction, among others. Recognizing the regulatory and compliance issues faced by employers in these industries has allowed Alison to issue-spot early on and become well-equipped to develop effective defense strategies. She has represented employers in state and federal court and agencies in numerous areas of employment law, including discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, harassment, failure to accommodate disabilities, defamation, breach of contract, fraud, failure to pay wages and a variety of other statutory and common law claims. She has obtained several complete defense verdicts through summary judgment and arbitration, including a highly contested arbitration on behalf of a large, international client, and has negotiated countless settlements well-below what clients were willing to pay to resolve a case.

Alison speaks on employment law topics and works with employers in preventative and educational counseling. She has served as an adjunct professor of employment law at Whittier Law School and was a member of the Whittier Law Review. During law school, Alison served as an intern to the Honorable Justice David Sills, Presiding, of California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three.

While being an over-achiever is in her blood, Alison’s greatest accomplishments are her children. When she is not litigating, Alison enjoys spending time with her husband and three children – Rowan, Kellan and Addison – reading with her book club, and high intensity interval training workouts.

Honors and Recognitions

• Super Lawyers® - Rising Stars (2013-2015)
• West's Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Award, Whittier Law College (2003)

Published Opinion

• Hope International University v. Superior Court (2004) 119 Cal.App.4th 719, Court of Appeal, an employment case related to the “ministerial exception” to state and federal employment laws (Contributing Author)

In the Media

• "More law firms join 'best for women' lists, but statistics are stalled," ABA Journal (October 2018) (Quoted)
• "Mommy Track Lawsuit Aside, Many Firms Look to Make Life Easier on Parents," The American Lawyer (May 2018) (Quoted)
• "For Mom: Flowers, Chocolate, Extra Leave," Bloomberg Law (May 2018) (Quoted)

Published Works

• "Changing Ideas About Changing Diapers," 25 Whittier L. Rev. 927 (2004) (Author)