Oakland Injury Attorneys - Bay Area Employment Law Attorneys Based in Oakland

Darci Burrell

Admissions:

State Bar of California, 1995

Areas of Focus:

Employment

Education:

University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, J.D.
University of California, San Diego, B.A., Literature

Biography:

A strong sense of fairness and a longtime commitment to equal rights drives Darci Burrell’s law practice at Boxer & Gerson, LLP. Since 1995, she has worked to provide redress to women, whistleblowers, people of color, union members and people with disabilities who have been discriminated against in the workplace.

With a focus on employment law, including employment discrimination, sexual harassment, disability discrimination, wage & hour litigation and family medical leave, her goal is to deliver vindication and justice for victims of prejudice and intolerance.

Darci received her law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. Following law school, she worked as the Ruth Chance Law Fellow with Equal Rights Advocates, one of the premier women’s rights law centers in the country. She has also worked as Regional Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Prior to joining Boxer & Gerson in 2004, Darci litigated employment class action lawsuits with Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen and Dardarian. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Project Open Hand, a non-profit organization that provides meals, groceries and nutrition service to people with HIV, the critically-ill homebound, seniors and women with breast cancer. In her spare time, she enjoys singing and playing music.

Case Highlights:

A 27-year employee of the City of Emeryville turned to Boxer & Gerson’s employment practice group after she was terminated from her job following a psychiatrist’s report that she was "unfit for duty." The employee, who was chief union steward at the time of her termination, had challenged racial discrimination, harassment, and unfair treatment by City management throughout her career. Attorneys Darci Burrell and Leslie Levy charted new legal territory in this case by bringing a claim against the psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen Raffle, for "aiding and abetting" the City in retaliating against their client for her years of anti-discrimination advocacy on behalf of herself and others. On the eve of the jury trial, Emeryville agreed to pay an estimated $3.6 million in damages and attorneys fees to settle the case. The settlement was a vindication for the employee and restored her good name.

Boxer & Gerson attorneys Jean Hyams and Darci Burrell tried a case on behalf of a woman who suffered from retaliation after she complained repeatedly about sexual and racial harassment on the graveyard shift at Caltrans’ Oakland Transportation Management Center. Members of the jury wept when they rendered a unanimous verdict finding Caltrans liable for maintaining a sexually and racially hostile work environment and subjecting the plaintiff to retaliation. By obtaining a jury verdict and attorneys’ fee award in excess of $1 million, the Boxer & Gerson employment team vindicated the rights of the Caltrans employee and delivered a clear message to employers about the cost of maintaining a work environment in which sexually and racially inappropriate conduct is permitted to thrive.

Articles:

The Norplant Solution: "Norplant and the Devaluation of African American Motherhood", 5 UCLA Women’s L.J. 401 (1995), republished in Gender and American Law, Volume II: Reproduction, Sexuality and the Family (Karen Maschke ed. 1997)

"Myth, Stereotype, and the Rape of Black Women", 4 UCLA Women’s L.J. 87 (1993)

Memberships:

California Employment Lawyers Association

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