Jessie Kohler
Jessie Kohler is Panish Shea & Boyle LLP’s Executive Director. In that role, she is responsible for overseeing the administrative operations of the firm. Ms. Kohler is also an experienced trial attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, including wage and hour class actions, and cases involving wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation and breach of contract.
Prior to joining Panish Shea & Boyle LLP, Ms. Kohler was a partner for six years in the Los Angeles office of Winston & Strawn LLP, one of the oldest and largest law firms in the United States. While at Winston & Strawn, Ms. Kohler primarily represented Fortune 500 companies with regard to their labor and employment issues, including litigation and counseling. She worked on matters for clients such as Sears Management Corporation, U.S. Bank, Farmers Insurance Exchange and Wells Fargo. She has successfully tried cases involving claims of harassment, discrimination, breach of contract, whistleblower retaliation and unpaid overtime. In addition, Ms. Kohler is one of the few attorneys in the country who has tried multiple wage and hour class actions to verdict or judgment. She was co-lead counsel in a multi-district litigation matter alleging nationwide overtime claims, and has coordinated multiple class and collective actions pending nationwide against one employer.
In addition to her litigation and counseling experience, Ms. Kohler is a frequent speaker and trainer on various employment law issues, including sexual harassment, wage and hour laws, and class actions.
Prior to joining Winston & Strawn, Ms. Kohler was an associate in the Los Angeles office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal for four years.
Ms. Kohler received a B.A. in Law and Society, magna cum laude, from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She received a J.D. from the University of Southern California Law Center, where she was a member of the Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal. She is admitted to practice in California and before the following Courts: The United States District Courts for the Central, Southern, Northern and Eastern Districts of California; the United States District Court for the District of Colorado; the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; and the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Kohler serves on the Board of Public Counsel, the largest pro bono law firm in the nation. (www.publiccounsel.org)
