Kristina is in the Labor & Employment Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP and Managing Partner of the Sacramento office. She is an efficient and effective litigator and counselor, specializing in all aspects of employment law, who provides clients with options and helps them achieve results in light of their businesses realities.

In her counseling practice, Kristina facilitates employers’ compliance with all federal and state employment laws, such as those governing reasonable accommodations, leaves of absence, payment of wages, workplace violence, privacy, and exemptions. She also represents clients before a variety of administrative agencies, including the EEOC, DFEH, DOL, and DLSE.

Kristina also has extensive experience litigating single, multi-plaintiff, and class actions in federal and state courts involving, as exemplar, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, to employment torts, contract, and wage and hour claims, arising under Title VII, Sections 1981 and 1983, the ADEA, FLSA, ADA and California’s FEHA, Labor code, and other Codes and regulations. She also has experience litigating RICO, ERISA, contract and wrongful death cases. In addition to resolving matters through litigation, Kristina frequently helps clients resolve disputes through various alternative dispute resolution methods.

A member of Seyfarth’s ADA Title III Specialty Team, Kristina regularly advises and defends clients in litigation arising under Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and related California disability access laws - the Unruh Act and Disabled Persons Act. Specifically, she has defended disability access lawsuits ranging from the very complex and contentious to those resulting in relatively simple settlements. Her Title III clients include a large non-profit symphony, hotels, restaurants, retailers, financial service providers, manufacturers, investment companies, property owners, salons, gas stations, and technology companies. Kristina has counseled clients on issues ranging from the creation of a new product and configuring special event design to comply with disability access laws, to compliance with service animal, reservations, effective communication, ticketing requirements of California law and the ADA 2010 Standards, to cutting-edge such as website accessibility and other accessible technologies. 

Ms. Launey practiced employment law prior to joining Seyfarth as a Deputy in the California Legislative Counsel’s Office, where she drafted legislation affecting employers, advised the Legislature on compliance with employment laws, and supervised outside counsel in litigation. Through her current work as Seyfarth’s California Legislative Team Leader, she helps employers understand, navigate, and implement the requirements of new legislation that impacts the way they do business in California.

Education

• J.D., University of California, Davis, King Hall School of Law (2002)
• B.A., University of California, Berkeley (1999

Admissions

• California

Courts

• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit