leslie@levyvinick.com | LinkedIn | 510-318-7705
B.A., University of California, Berkeley 1978
J.D., Hastings College of the Law, 1982
Leslie Levy brings a lifelong passion for social justice to her employment discrimination law practice. In addition to representing employees, her record includes pioneering lawsuits against sexually harassing landlords and perpetrators of violence against women and children. Leslie has also successfully brought suit against BART forcing it to install edge detection for blind and low vision users as well as independent elevator access. Leslie remains committed to the practice of law as a vehicle for progressive social change.
Her primary focus is representing employees, especially women, who have faced or are facing discrimination or harassment on the job. She also represents survivors of sexual abuse by professionals, such as doctors, therapists and teachers, and of sexual harassment in housing situations. Leslie believes in empowering her clients to be an active part in the decision-making process of their cases.
Most recently, representing two women agents seeking redress for gender discrimination and retaliation, Leslie negotiated the largest settlement to date against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Leslie has been recognized on the Northern California’s Super Lawyers’ Employment top attorneys list each year from 2005 to the present, frequently as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers. She also belongs to the American Board of Trial Advocates, an invitation-only organization of the nation’s most accomplished trial lawyers.
She is a past recipient of Hastings College of Law’s Clara Foltz Award for distinguished service to women. Equal Rights Advocates named Leslie its Gender Justice Honoree in 2013. In 2016 Leslie received the Velvet Hammer Award from Women Lawyers of Alameda County.
This award was followed in 2017 by the prestigious Fay Stender Award, given by California Women Lawyers each year to one feminist attorney committed to the representation of women, disadvantaged groups and unpopular causes, and whose courage, zest for life and demonstrated ability to effect change as a single individual make her a role model for women attorneys around the state.
Leslie currently serves as the President of the Board of Women Lawyers of Alameda County, an organization that is committed to advancing women in the legal profession.
She has been an adjunct professor at both the University of San Francisco School of Law and New College of the Law, and is a speaker at numerous legal conferences. She has authored articles, contributed chapters to legal reference books and practice manuals, and drafted California civil rights legislation. She is a graduate of Hastings College of the Law, and has a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley.
Leslie has volunteered for years at the Marine Mammal Center and is a Winter wildlife Docent at Point Reyes National Seashore. An avid environmentalist and lover of the outdoors, she also enjoys kayaking and bird-watching.
