Ms. Pope is a partner in Pillsbury's Employment & Labor law group, and Employment Counsel to the firm. She has been with the firm since 1986, focusing exclusively on employment-related litigation and counseling. Particular areas of emphasis include defense of disability, age, retaliation,  discrimination, and harassment suits; wrongful termination; whistleblower allegations; breach of contract; and employment-related torts. Ms. Pope is also frequently retained as an investigator for clients in matters involving sensitive employee allegations. Other aspects of her practice include litigation of unfair competition and trade secrets disputes, labor arbitration, and employer counseling on a variety of topics.

Ms. Pope has extensive experience with both individual and multi-plaintiff litigation and has tried many cases before juries in municipal, superior and federal courts. She focuses on positioning cases for early disposition and has obtained denials of class certification and numerous case dismissals at the demurrer and summary judgment stages.

Illustrative Matters
Arbitrations:

• Union claim for medical benefits contribution. Partial employer award in July 2004.

Trials:

• Defamation case tried to a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.  Partial defense verdict in October 2011.
• Sexual harassment and retaliatory termination case tried before the Fair Employment and Housing Commission.  Defense verdict in 2006.
• Age discrimination and breach of contract case tried to a jury in the San Francisco Superior Court. Defense verdict on age discrimination and related torts in 2004.
• Sexual harassment case tried to a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Defense verdict in 2001.

Summary Judgments:

• Race discrimination case in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, dismissed in 2011.
• Age discrimination and retaliatory termination case in Contra Costa County Superior Court, dismissed in 2006.
• Failure to accommodate, disability discrimination and retaliation case in Contra Costa County Superior Court, dismissed in 2006. 
• Sex and age discrimination case  in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, dismissed  in 2002.

Publications:

Practical and Legal Considerations in Responding to Suspected Substance Abuse in the Workplace, Bloomberg Corporate Law Journal, Spring 2007