jean@vinickhyams.com | Website | LinkedIn | 510-318-7703
Reach Jean Hyams through her new law firm — Vinick Hyams LLP — via the contact information listed above.
For mediation services, reach Jean through Sequitur Resolutions — jean@sequiturresolutions.com. Or contact David Faris, Mediation Case Manager — david@sequiturresolutions.com.
In the world of worker’s rights advocacy, Jean is a recognized leader. She is the recipient of the 2019 Joe Posner Award as Attorney of the Year from the California Employment Lawyers Association. In 2018, the 1300-member strong organization also bestowed on her its prestigious Leadership Award and honored her, along with four other colleagues, with the “Strike Force 5” award for their initiative in pressing for sweeping legislative change to California’s sexual harassment laws.
Although her litigation practice is devoted to representation of employees, Jean has also served as a mediator in employment and disability access lawsuits for over two decades, following intensive training in mediation through the U.S. District Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program. Counsel for employers and employees have found her to be effective in assisting both sides to evaluate the case strengths and weaknesses during facilitated settlement negotiations.
Jean also trains lawyers, law students and judges on topics including mediation, jury selection, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, disability rights, and trial skills in California and around the country. In recent years, she has spoken at seminars and workshops presented by the Northern District of California Judicial College, Continuing Education of the Bar, California Applicant Attorneys Association, Bar Association of San Francisco, Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles and California Employment Lawyers Association.
Since 2006, Jean has been recognized annually as one of Northern California’s “Super Lawyers” in the field of employment law, including many years as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in Northern California.” Northern California Super Lawyers Magazine profiled Jean in a cover story in 2014.
Soon after graduation from law school at the University of California, Berkeley, Jean opened her own law practice and began representing women who were sexually harassed and people with disabilities who faced discrimination. She then served as a Civil Rights Attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, the federal agency charged with enforcing federal laws prohibiting discrimination in education. Following her time in public service, she returned to private practice with Boxer & Gerson, LLP, where she later became a partner. During her ten years at Boxer & Gerson, LLP, Jean developed a particular expertise in the complicated interplay between disability discrimination and workers’ compensation laws.
Outside of her work in the law, Jean serves as a board member with YES Nature to Neighborhoods, a Richmond-based leadership development organization, and enjoys life in the East Bay.
B.A. Wellesley College, 1982
J.D. BerkeleyLaw, 1989