Krista L. Mitzel 

Krista L. Mitzel considers herself an entrepreneur who happens to be a lawyer. She represents clients with employment-related legal issues, but she also advises them on business matters and acts as a general counsel to some.

“I enjoy solving the stickiest problems that most other people would run away from,” Mitzel said. She regularly accepts matters “that require a different touch: the ability to be a lawyer, be a teacher, be a psychologist, be a listener, be a guru of sorts to help guide them through this situation where they just feel that all hope is lost.”

Dealing with those sticky problems often requires her to work behind the scenes to ensure her clients avoid publicity. “I keep all of the dirty laundry neatly folded in the back closet,” she said.

She won’t publicly identify any of her clients.

Last year, she and her firm advised a local community services nonprofit through a very difficult and contentious leadership transition. There were cross-accusations between the old and new leaders, so Mitzel oversaw investigations into sexual harassment allegations against one and financial improprieties against the other. When the controversies threatened the charity’s funding, she represented it before the local board of supervisors.

“It was a very holistic, high-level, complex approach to a very big problem that was greatly impacting not only the organization, but their constituents,” she said. “It took a while, but we got there.”

She also assists law firms. Without appearing in the case, she quietly resolved a sexual harassment lawsuit by the managing partner of a small firm against its name partner.

In a very different matter, she assisted a specialty firm that decided to convert its personnel, who are scattered across the country, from independent contractors to employees. That required “a lot of talking points, a lot of training, a lot of communication, a lot of foundational laying the groundwork,” she said.

Her more traditional employment cases included representing a specialty beverage chain with about two dozen stores across the country in settling a high-profile wage-and-hour class action that included accusations of union busting. She also settled a class action seeking $9 million from an assisted-living company for just $600,000, she said.

This past March, she and her firm worked with foreign counsel to oversee a 50-employee reduction-in-force for an AI startup with employees in the U.S., India and Central and Eastern Europe. “Oftentimes, in our capacity to support companies with multi-geographical locations, we will act as general counsel across the board and help them with much more than California and U.S. law.”

“Every client has a different need, depending on how they want to run their business,” Mitzel said. “My job isn’t to run their business for them, it’s to help guide them and give them strong legal and comprehensive advice that will help them make good decisions.”

— Don DeBenedictis