Margo Hasselman
Margo Hasselman joined the firm as an associate attorney in 2003 and became a shareholder in 2009. She was selected as one of Northern California Rising Stars for 2009 and 2010 by Law & Politics. In addition to representing individual clients in disability and pension claims, Ms. Hasselman has served, or is serving, as counsel in several class actions in the employee benefits and civil rights fields, including a lawsuit against the Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission for violating the transportation equity rights of minority bus riders; actions representing employees who lost significant retirement savings as a result of employer maintenance and encouragement of investment in employer stock when the company was failing; and representation of union pension and welfare funds against investment managers and consultants for investment in Bernard Madoff’s fraudulent investment scheme.
In addition to the practice discussed above, Ms. Hasselman is a frequent writer and speaker on employee benefits issues. She is a co-editor of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section, Employee Benefits Committee Newsletter. Recent speaking engagements include the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section Annual CLE Conference in 2008 on “What Labor and Employment Lawyers Need to Know About ERISA,” the National Employment Lawyers Association 2009 Convention on “Attacking Mass Layoffs,” the Thompson Reuters 2009 ERISA Litigation Conference on both “Benefit Claims Litigation after Glenn” and “ERISA Remedies,” and a nationwide BNA teleconference titled “ERISA Class Actions – Up Close and Personal: An In-Depth Look at the Myriad of Complex and Ever-Evolving Issues.” Ms. Hasselman is a Contributing Author to Sacher, et al., Employee Benefits Law (BNA Books), Chapter 11, “ERISA Preemption and Effect on Other Laws” (2008 Supplement). Ms. Hasselman has also written and contributed to articles regarding aspects of employee benefits law and contributed to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Ms. Hasselman is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Honors and Highest Distinction and of the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, where she served as an Articles Editor of Ecology Law Quarterly and graduated Order of the Coif.