Genie E. Harrison

Harrison said her future was foretold as an infant when her physician father frequently whispered in her ear, "attorney...attorney...attorney." "He will take credit," she laughed. "Oh, yeah, that set me on my course."

Not funny was the sexual harassment she said she endured from a mentor and others as a young woman. "Then I got to law school and learned that kind of behavior has a name," Harrison said. "I thought, 'Oh my gosh, all that stuff is illegal?' I do what I do now to work on my issues." Her practice focuses on representing sexual harassment victims and those who have suffered wrongful termination, discrimination, whistleblower retaliation and wage and hour violations.

In one high-profile case in 2014, she won $106,000 for a client and $1.5 million in attorney fees in a sexual harassment and retaliation case against Villa Blanca, the Beverly Hills restaurant partly owned by Lisa Vanderpump of the reality TV show "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."

Now, she has clothing designer Kenneth Cole in her sights. In late June, she was preparing for a mid-July trial in the Northern District on behalf of client Cynthia Gutierrez, who claims that she was wrongly fired as manager of Cole's San Francisco store because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and needed leave for treatment. Gutierrez v. Kenneth Cole Productions Inc., 3:15-cv-00129 (N.D. Cal., filed Jan. 9, 2015)

Harrison turns cases into causes. In her original complaint, drafted before the Cole case was moved to federal court, she wrote, "October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Plaintiff files this important case to highlight the fact that employers are discriminating and retaliating against employees because of their breast cancer, and their need for treatment and leave...As a nationwide employer, Kenneth Cole knows better than to discriminate against its employees with cancer, but nevertheless decided to fire Gutierrez when she was at her most vulnerable — just after she learned that she had cancer and as she was beginning her surgical and treatment processes."

U.S. District Judge William H. Alsup has asked for additional briefing on the rights of employees to take time off for treatment, Harrison said, adding that the judge's questions mirror those of many who find it hard to believe that businesses are required to accommodate what could be months of treatment. "But she didn't need months, just time here and there," Harrison said. "There are detailed and complicated laws enacted to keep people off public assistance. I'm really looking forward to this trial."

— John Roemer