darci@levyvinick.com | LinkedIn | 510-318-7704
B.A., University of California, San Diego 1991
J.D., University of California, Los Angeles 1995
Darci Burrell’s dedication to advancing the rights of society’s less powerful is equaled only by her devotion to the rule of law. An unyielding advocate for her clients, Ms. Burrell’s innovative legal work has expanded the bounds of civil rights law.
She is particularly noted for the novel application of “aiding and abetting” claims to employment discrimination cases, including one case against a psychiatrist who determined that an African American employee was unfit for duty because she kept raising claims of racial discrimination in the workplace.
Darci is a founding partner of Levy Vinick Burrell Hyams LLP. Prior to that, she was a senior associate with the employment practice group of Boxer & Gerson LLP, where she successfully litigated and tried cases on behalf of women subjected to gender discrimination and sexual harassment, people subjected to racial discrimination and harassment, people with disabilities, whistleblowers, tradeswomen and other women in non-traditional employment, and others, against both corporations and public entities.
Darci has practiced civil rights and public interest law since she graduated from UCLA Law School in 1995, beginning with a year serving as the Ruth Chance Law Fellow with Equal Rights Advocates, a women’s employment law center in San Francisco. In that position, Darci represented women and girls in cases involving sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. She also advocated on behalf of women in non-traditional employment, including tradeswomen and fire fighters.
Darci then joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund as a staff attorney, litigating class action lawsuits on behalf of, among others, female police officers, African American probation officers, and residents of a largely-Latino neighborhood fighting a new freeway extension.
Darci returned to the Bay Area in 1998 to serve as a Civil Rights Attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, enforcing laws against discrimination in education on the basis of race, ethnicity, age, gender and disability. Two years later, she joined Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian as a civil litigator involved in a variety of employment discrimination and wage and hour class action lawsuits.
Darci speaks regularly on employment issues throughout the country. Since 2019, she has also been a Contributing Editor for the Rutter Group’s California Practice Guide: Employment Litigation. In 2020, she also participated in a project for the Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), creating sample briefs, complaints, and strategic guides for California employment lawyers.
Outside the office, Darci immerses herself in everything the East Bay has to offer, particularly outdoor adventures and popular culture. She is a regular at many Oakland gathering spots, and a reliable source for the best tips on Oakland’s vibrant local food and music scene.
