Bar/Professional Activity:

• ABA Tort, Trial, and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS): Employee Benefits Committee, Chair, 2008-2010, Chair-Elect, 2006-2008, Vice Chair, 2003-2006; ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, 2006-present

Scholarly Lectures and Writings:

• Publications:  Dividing Pensions and Other Employee Benefits in California Divorces, Chapter 9, "Employee Welfare and Other Nonpension Benefits" (Continuing Education of the Bar 2006); California Domestic Partnerships, Chapter 8, "Employee Benefits" (Continuing Education of the Bar 2005); Employee Benefits Law, 2d ed., Chapter 14, "Liability Issues Unique to Welfare Plans" (BNA 2000) (Chapter Editor, 2006-2008 updates); “Gill Lays Groundwork for DOMA Challenges to Employee Benefits,” Pension & Benefits Daily, Aug. 24, 2010 (BNA); "State Regulation of Discretionary Clauses in Insured ERISA Plans," The Brief, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Fall 2007); "COBRA and Divorce," CEB Topics, Vol. 21 (ceb.com); "An Overview of the Legal Structure Surrounding the Termination of United Airlines' Defined Benefit Plans," Bender's Labor & Employment Bulletin (Sept. 2005); "ERISA Precludes Post-Retirement Plan Amendments that Curtail Retirees' Benefits," Bender's Labor & Employment Bulletin (Jan. 2004); Comment, Evidentiary Legerdemain: Deciding When Daubert Applies to Social Science Evidence, 84 Cal. L. Rev. 1657 (1996).  2010 speaking engagements:  ERISA Litigation National Institute, Chicago, Nov. 11-12, 2010, "ERISA Preemption" (panelist), "Employer Stock Cases" (panelist); ABA Annual Meeting, San Francisco, Aug. 6, 2010, "ERISA Survey of the Federal Circuits – A Practitioner’s Guide to Emerging Issues" (panelist); ALI-ABA TeleConference, Mar. 18, 2010, "Employee Benefits Issues Affecting Same-Sex Spouses and Domestic Partners"; ABA TIPS 36th Annual Midwinter Symposium on Issues and Litigation Relating to Life, Health and Disability Insurance, Insurance Regulation, Employee Benefits and Reinsurance, Bonita Springs, Jan. 16, 2010 "The Obama Administration and Its Impact on ERISA and Health and Disability Insurance" (panelist).

Verdicts and Settlements:

• Significant cases include Paulsen v. CNF Inc., 559 F.3d 1061 (9th Cir. 2009); Vaughn v. Bay Environmental Management, Inc., 544 F.3d 1008 (9th Cir. 2008), amended, 567 F.3d 1021 (June 4, 2009); Taylor v. ANB Bancshares, Inc., 2010 WL 4053575 (W.D. Ark. Oct. 14, 2010), and 2010 WL 4054362 (W.D. Ark. Sept. 20, 2010); Lively v. Dynegy, Inc., 2007 WL 685861 (S.D. Ill. Mar. 2, 2007), and 420 F. Supp. 2d 949 (S.D. Ill. 2006); McMunn v. Pirelli Tire, LLC, 161 F. Supp. 2d 97 (D. Conn. 2001); Gerlib v. R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 2002 WL 1285795 (N.D. Ill. June 11, 2002), and 2001 WL 1313794 (N.D. Ill., Oct. 26, 2001).

Other Outstanding Achievements:

• Judicial Law Clerk to District Judge Irma E. Gonzalez, United States District Court, Southern District of California, September 1996-August 1997; Senior Executive Editor, California Law Review, 1995-1996

Educational Background:

• B.A., Mount Holyoke College, 1986
• J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, 1996