LITIGATION AND TRIAL COUNSEL

Ms. Burnette has extensive experience in all aspects of litigation in state and federal courts, arbitrations, administrative hearings, and appeals. She has successfully defended clients in bench trials, high stakes jury trials, complex cases, and class action litigation.

Although proud of an aggressive record of success at trial, Ms. Burnette also strives to resolve cases quickly when it is in the client’s best interests. She has successfully represented clients in mediation, won pre-trial dismissals of lawsuits, won appeals, and negotiated favorable settlements in a variety of lawsuits.

Representative cases litigated include: Wrongful Termination, Commercial Contracts, Employment Discrimination, Business Insurance Coverage, Sexual Harassment, Environmental Clean-up, Overtime Wage Claims, Real Estate Disputes, Pension Benefits, Intellectual Property, OSHA Safety Violations, Interstate Trucking, Work Related Injuries, Unfair Competition, Unlawful Retaliation, and Construction Litigation.

LEGAL COUNSELING & ADVICE

Ms. Burnette’s counseling practice emphasizes advising clients on all aspects of labor and employment law issues, including wage/hour and overtime compliance, employee handbooks, and investigations and audits.

She also advises businesses on computer, technology and cyberspace law matters, including computer security, policies and practices, and intellectual property matters. She also serves as independent investigator for sexual harassment investigations, legal trainer for management training programs, and human resources law compliance expert.

SEMINARS AND SPEECHES

An accomplished public speaker and professor, Ms. Burnette is a frequent speaker at seminars and training programs for business and human resources organizations. She also teaches conntinuing legal education programs for attorneys, including education programs for the Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Fernando Valley Bar Associations and the State Bar of California.

 PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AND MEMBERSHIPS

• Adjunct Professor of Business Law, Cyberspace Law, and HR Management

• Judge Pro Tem of the Ventura Superior Court

• Immediate Past Chair, Solo and Small Firm Practice Section, State Bar of California

• Immediate Past President, East County Bar Association

• Chair, Employment Law Section, Ventura County Bar

• American Bar Association, International Labor Law Committee

• Los Angeles County Bar Association

• Beverly Hills Bar Association

• Society for Human Resources Management, Professional Member

• Professionals in Human Resources Association

• The CPA/Law Society of Ventura County

• California Women Lawyers

Ms. Burnette has published extensively on employment law and business litigation topics. Some of her most recent articles are now available online. A list and links to her recent articles appear on the PUBLICATIONS page on this web site. 

Admitted to practice in all courts of the State of California, the U.S. District Courts for the Central, Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of California, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Inactive member of the State Bar of Colorado.

PREVIOUS PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Eight years of experience with large Los Angeles law firms, including Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, and Musick, Peeler & Garrett, LLP

• Labor Counsel - Assistant City Attorney, City of Fort Collins, Colorado

PERSONAL

Ms. Burnette a violist with the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moorpark Symphony Orchestra, and the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center Orchestra.  She has also been a private pilot for over 20 years.