Housing Accountability
Related Attorneys
Celia W. Lee
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Attorney
Celia Lee is a partner in the firm with over twenty-five years of litigation experience. Her practice encompasses a broad range of civil litigation, investigations, and advice on behalf of public agencies, nonprofit, and private entities in municipal, real estate, housing, land use, and business law disputes.
Immediately prior to joining the firm, Ms. Lee served as a Deputy City Attorney in the Office of the City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco for a decade. She was a member of both the Neighborhood and Resident Safety/Code Enforcement Team, representing the City and County and its departments and employees in its civil enforcement of state and local public safety and public nuisance laws and the intersection of those laws with land use concerns, and the Trial Team, where she litigated and tried to a jury a wide variety of matters for several City departments. From 1994 to 2004, she practiced commercial litigation and insurance litigation at two San Francisco law firms.
Ms. Lee has spoken on several panels for the California Lawyers’ Association, Real Property Law Section annual conferences on various topics, including the Housing Accountability Act and ethics in real estate transactions.
Ms. Lee actively engages in community service around the Bay Area.
In 2009, Ms. Lee was a recipient of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s (NAPABA) “Best Lawyers Under 40” Award.
Education
- B.A. University of California at Berkeley; magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
- J.D., University of Michigan Law School
Previous Employment
- Goldfarb & Lipman LLP, Oakland, California, Jan. 2014 – present.
- Office of the City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco.
- Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, San Francisco, California.
- Thornton, Taylor, Downs, Becker, Tolson & Doherty, San Francisco, California.
Professional and Volunteer Affiliations
- State Bars of California and New York
- Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA), (President 2008-2009)
- AABA Law Foundation Board (2014-present)
- Chair, Board of Trustees for Chinese for Affirmative Action/Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (CAA/AACRE), a civil rights organization based in San Francisco’s Chinatown that advocates for the Asian Pacific American community, 2009-present
- Member, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights for the San Francisco Bay Area, 2011-present
Dolores Bastian Dalton
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Attorney
Dolores Bastian Dalton has more than twenty years’ experience litigating and mediating commercial, public entity and nonprofit issues on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal trial courts, and on appeal. She has specialized expertise in summary judgment and appellate work. Ms. Dalton has been certified by the State Bar of California as a specialist in appellate law.
Ms. Dalton is also a trained mediator and a member of the mediation panels for the California Court of Appeal for the Third and Sixth Districts. She has successfully mediated numerous complex civil disputes.
Ms. Dalton is an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she teaches Practical Litigation Skills. She has also taught in the University of California Berkeley’s Fall Program for Freshmen.
Ms. Dalton is the former chair of the City of Albany Planning Commission. From 2009 to 2011, she was a member of California Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner’s A.D. 14 “Women of the Year” committee. She is also one of the founders and the former president of the Albany Music Fund, a nonprofit corporation formed to preserve the music program in the City of Albany’s public schools. She volunteers for Alameda County’s Lawyers in the Library program.
Education
- J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law
- Comments Editor of the Law Review. B.A., Philosophy, University of California at Berkeley
Professional and Volunteer Affiliations
- State Bar of California
- Member, The Mediation Society
- Member, State Bar of California Litigation Section
- Member, The Berkeley Piano Club
James T. Diamond, Jr.
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Attorney
James T. Diamond, Jr’s. practice emphasizes employment law litigation and counseling, municipal government advice and litigation, and commercial litigation. He has represented public entities, Fortune 50 corporations, small businesses and nonprofit entities. Mr. Diamond represents the firm’s clients in state and federal trial, appellate and bankruptcy courts, and in arbitrations, mediations and administrative hearings.
In his employment practice, Mr. Diamond has defended clients in state and federal courts throughout California in discrimination, sexual harassment, prevailing wage, whistleblower, retaliatory discharge claims and employment-related common-law tort and contract claims related to employment. He has represented clients in administrative proceedings before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Mr. Diamond provides employment law counseling to his clients in preventing litigation through properly documented disciplinary actions, handling Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and California Family Rights Act (CFRA) leave issues, pregnancy leave issues, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) reasonable accommodation issues, and wage and hour issues. He provides employment and labor counsel on issues including the duty to meet and confer under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, counseling on reasonable accommodation rights and duties under state and federal law, Skelly hearings, grievance resolution, interpretation of labor contract issues, and labor negotiations.
Mr. Diamond has litigated commercial and business matters on behalf of his clients in contract disputes, common law tort matters including claims of fraud, whistleblower and False Claim Act cases under state and federal law, intellectual property, and trade secrets.
Education
- B.A., cum laude, University of San Francisco
- J.D., Hastings College of the Law, University of California, San Francisco
Professional and Volunteer Affiliations
- State Bar of California
- American Bar Association, Employment Law Section
- Alameda County Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section, Executive Committee Member
- Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce
Rye P. Murphy
Contact Information
Attorney
Rye Murphy is an associate in the firm’s litigation practice. He works with the firm’s private and public entity clients in state and federal litigation matters. While he regularly represents parties in large-scale matters, like challenges to municipal land use decisions, complex, multi-party litigation, and corporate disputes, Rye also has experience with jury trials and smaller-scale lawsuits, including unlawful detainers and personal injury actions. Rye takes a keen interest in civil procedure and while attending law school he interned at California’s Judicial Council and has published on the history of the class action.
Before entering law school, Rye studied Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University of Beirut.
Education
- B.A., University of Oregon
- J.D., University of California, Hastings College of Law
Professional and Volunteer Affiliations
- State Bar of California