Experience
A seasoned investigator, employment lawyer, mediator, and arbitrator, Wendy Rouder joined the firm in 2012. While her practice focuses on complex workplace investigations, Ms. Rouder brings years of employment and litigation experience to her investigations. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Rouder was a sole practitioner handling investigations as well as mediation and arbitrations.
A skilled mediator, Ms Rouder continues to provide mediation and facilitation services to both private and public sector clients.
Related Experience
Ms. Rouder served as a Senior Equal Employment Opportunity Investigation Specialist for Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, where she conducted investigations into employee discrimination complaints and supervised Kaiser’s Northern California EEO investigations staff. Ms. Rouder has also served as an arbitrator and mediator, affiliated with the California State Mediation and Conciliation Panel, the State Bar Mandatory Fee Arbitration Panel, the United States District Court’s Early Neutral Evalution panel and various other arbitration panels in northern California.
Before becoming an independent investigator in 2000, Ms. Rouder spent 18 years as a public sector attorney, working first for the City of San Francisco as a Deputy Public Defender, then for the City of Oakland as Assistant to the City Attorney, and finally as the Supervising Senior Deputy City Attorney in charge of the Office’s labor and employment law section.
Selected Publications & Presentations
- “Firefighters’ Bill of Rights: A Police Carbon Copy?” Panel organizer and presenter; California State Bar Public Sector Annual Conference (April, 2008 in Sacramento, California)
- Panel Moderator “So You Want to Make a Federal Case Out of It” (Section 1983 law update) California State Bar Labor and Employment Section Public Sector Conference, April, 2006
- “One Woman’s Journey to Manhood: The Transgendered Lawyer” (organizer, moderator of program for State Bar Labor and Employment Annual Conference, Fall, 2006
- “Civil Warrior” (Book Review), 19 California Employment and Labor Law Review, pp, 12 (June, 2005)
- “Mediation the Northern District Way,” 17 California Employment and Labor Law Review, pp.5-6, 16 (January, 2003)
- “Evolving Issues in Arbitration” Paper presented at the California State Bar Labor and Employment Law Training Program (May, 2002)
- “Independent Police Review Boards” Paper presented to League of California Cities City Attorneys Conference (2001)
- “Update on Privacy Issues” Paper delivered to the League of California Cities Employee Relations Institute (1995)
- “Drug Testing and Privacy” Paper delivered to the California Public Employee Relations Association (1995)
- “Update on the Fair Labor Standards Act” Paper delivered to the California League of Cities Attorney’s Conference (1995)
- “The Constitutional Rights of Police Officers” Paper delivered to the American Academy of Criminal Justice (1987)
- “Last Chance Agreements” Paper presented to the California League of Cities Attorney’s Conference (1987)
- “Is There a Vital Civil Remedy for a Dying Exclusionary Rule?” Paper delivered to the American Academy of Criminal Justice (1986)
Memberships
- Executive Committee of the State Bar Labor and Employment Law Section (2004-2009, Chairperson in 2007)
- Law Review, Golden Gate University School of Law (1978)