Gay Crosthwait Grunfeld

Gay Grunfeld is a partner with Rosen, Bien & Galvan LLP in San Francisco where she focuses her practice on complex civil litigation, with an emphasis on civil rights, employment, business, and attorneys’ fees cases.  She has 18 years of experience practicing before trial and appellate courts at both the state and federal levels, and was named one of the Top 75 Women Litigators in California for 2011 by the Daily Journal.

Ms. Grunfeld has played a key role in some of the most significant civil rights class action cases on behalf of prisoners and parolees pending in California.  In 2008, she helped secure the rights of all juvenile parolees in California to fair parole revocation hearings.  In 2009, she was instrumental in ensuring that prisoners with disabilities in county jails in California receive reasonable accommodations and have access to a workable grievance procedure when their needs are not being accommodated – a holding upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2010 and reaffirmed by the Northern District in January 2012.

AV-rated, Ms. Grunfeld maintains an active and diverse litigation practice in other areas as well, successfully representing clients, including municipalities, corporations, and individuals in a variety of employment, copyright, attorneys’ fees, trade secrets and commercial disputes.  She has successfully negotiated several high-profile employment disputes, including obtaining settlements in excess of $1 million on behalf of individual employment clients.  Ms. Grunfeld also obtained a $4.3 million attorneys’ fee award of behalf of the plaintiffs in the juvenile parole litigation.

She serves as a member of the Judiciary Committee of the Bar Association of San Francisco and is Past President and Board Member of the San Francisco Women Lawyers Alliance.  She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Equal Rights Advocates.  Ms. Grunfeld received the 1995 Fay Stender Award from California Women Lawyers for her work in establishing children’s waiting rooms in San Francisco Bay Area courthouses.  She has also served on a number of boards and committees for community organizations.

Ms. Grunfeld received a J.D. in 1984 from Columbia Law School where she was the articles editor of the Columbia Law Review and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar from 1982 to 1984.  She received a B.A. in Philosophy in 1981 from Wellesley College where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with highest honors.  After completing law school, Ms. Grunfeld clerked for the Honorable Jack Weinstein, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Published Cases

• Armstrong v. Schwarzenegger, 805 F. Supp. 2d 918 (N.D. Cal. 2011)
• Armstrong v. Schwarzenegger, 622 F.3d. 1058 (9th Cir. 2010)
• Armstrong v. Schwarzenegger, 261 F.R.D. 173 (N.D. Cal. 2009)
• L.H. v. Schwarzenegger, 645 F. Supp. 2d 888 (E.D. Cal. 2009)
• L.H. v. Schwarzenegger, 519 F. Supp. 2d 1072 (E.D. Cal. 2007)
• AFL-CIO v. Deukmejian, 212 Cal. App. 3d 425 (1989)
• Patel v. Quality Inn South, 846 F.2d 700 (11th Cir. 1988)
• International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers v. Brock, 816 F.2d 761 (D.C. Cir. 1987)
• County of Los Angeles v. State of California (1987) 43 Cal. 3d 46
• K & M Glass Co. v. International Brotherhood of Painters, 121 L.R.R.M. 3005 (N.D. Cal. 1986)

Practice Focus

• Constitutional and civil rights law
• Employment law
• Commercial and other complex litigation

Reported Cases

• Armstrong v. Schwarzenegger, 805 F. Supp. 2d 918 (U.S. 2011)
• Armstrong v. Schwarzenegger, 622 F.3d. 1058 (9th Cir. 2010)
• Armstrong v. Schwarzenegger, 261 F.R.D. 173 (N.D. Cal. 2009)
• L.H. v. Schwarzenegger, 645 F. Supp. 2d 888 (E.D. Cal. 2009)
• L.H. v. Schwarzenegger, 519 F. Supp. 2d 1072 (E.D. Cal. 2007)
• AFL-CIO v. Deukmejian, 212 Cal.App.3d 425 (1989)
• Patel v. Quality Inn South, 846 F.2d 700 (11th Cir. 1988)
• International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers v. Brock, 816 F.2d 761 (D.C. Cir. 1987)
• County of Los Angeles v. State of California, 43 Cal. 3d 46 (1987)

Professional Experience

• Martindale-Hubbell A-V Rated.
• Associate:
  • Rosen, Bien & Galvan, 2005-2007
  • Bryant, Clohan & Baruh, 2001-2005
  • Fenwick & West, 1996-1997
  • Dickson-Ross, 1989-1991
  • Altshuler Berzon, 1985-1989
• Consultant, Judicial Council of California, 1993-1995
• Law Clerk, Hon. Jack B. Weinstein, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, 1984-1985

Publications and Presentations

• “Know what not to ask in a job interview,” The Recorder (November 14, 2011)
• “How businesses can protect their valuable trade secrets,” San Francisco Daily Journal (September 26, 2011)
• “Get the Most Out of Your Expert,” The Recorder (April 27, 2011).
• “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words,” San Francisco Daily Journal (March 23, 2011).
• “ADA in Jails & Prisons,” Workshop at the 2010 Training & Advocacy Support Center of the National Disability Rights Network, P & A/CAP Annual Conference, June 10, 2010, Los Angeles, California.
• “No Time to Waste-California’s Rules for Claims Against Public Entities,” The Recorder, Winter 2009 Supplement at 6-7.
• “Two Women Illustrate Harm of Mandatory Arbitration Clauses,” San Francisco Daily Journal (August 7, 2009).
• “Due Process for Juvenile Parolees: What comes Next After L.H. v. Schwarzenegger?,” Administrative Office of the Courts’ Beyond the Bench XIX: Communicating and Collaborating Conference (December 11-12, 2008).
• “Without Reform, California’s Juvenile Justice System Will Condemn Youth To Bleak Future,” San Francisco Daily Journal (October 8, 2007).
• Editor, Judicial Council of California, Achieving Equal Justice For Women and Men in the California Courts (1996).
• “Some Reflections on Conflicts Between Government Attorneys and Clients” 1 Touro L. Rev. 1 (1985) (with Jack B. Weinstein).
• “Article III Problems in Enforcing the Balanced Budget Amendment” 83 Colum. L. Rev. 1065 (1983).

Education

• Columbia Law School, J.D., Articles Editor, Columbia Law Review, 1984
• Wellesley College, B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, 1981

Admissions

• California, 1985

Honors & Awards

• Top Women Lawyers in California for 2011, Daily Journal
• California Women Lawyers, 1995 Fay Stender Award, for Work in Establishing Children’s Waiting Rooms in Bay Area Courthouses

Community Service

• Board Member, Equal Rights Advocates.
• Member, Judiciary Committee of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
• Past President and Board Member, San Francisco Women Lawyers Alliance and Alliance Foundation.
• Past Board or Committee Member for several community organizations, including the San Francisco Chronicle Community Advisory Board, Northern California Service League, Walter Hays School Site Council, and Equal Rights Advocates.