SDHR Forum Law Day 2027
Connect, Learn, and Discuss the Employment Law Issues Shaping the Workplace
Join the San Diego Human Resources Forum (SDHR Forum) for our annual Law Day, one of our most popular and highly anticipated events of the year. Designed specifically for HR professionals, Law Day brings together leading employment attorneys and HR practitioners for a dynamic morning of learning, discussion, and networking.
Unlike a traditional conference, Law Day features an interactive roundtable format that encourages meaningful conversations and practical problem-solving. Attorneys present concise, high-impact sessions on timely employment law topics and then rotate among small groups of attendees, creating opportunities for direct dialogue, real-world application, and relationship building.
As organizations prepare for 2027, HR leaders continue to navigate an increasingly complex legal and workplace landscape. Discussions may explore topics such as artificial intelligence in the workplace, disability accommodations and the interactive process, PAGA developments, leave management challenges, workplace investigations, documentation best practices, and other emerging employment law trends. Each attorney will bring a unique perspective, sharing insights and practical guidance on the issues most relevant to today's HR professionals.
Law Day provides a valuable opportunity to gain current legal insights, exchange ideas with peers, and build connections with respected employment law experts in the San Diego community.
Program Format
7:30 – 8:00 a.m.
Registration, breakfast, and networking
8:00 – 8:15 a.m.
Welcome, announcements, and event overview
8:15 a.m. – approximately 11:00 a.m.
Interactive attorney roundtable discussions
- Attendees will be seated in small groups of approximately 10-12 participants per table.
- Each attorney will present a focused employment law topic, including time for discussion and questions.
- Following each session, attorneys will rotate to the next table, ensuring every attendee has the opportunity to engage with each presenter.
- A networking break will be held midway through the program.
- The event will conclude with open networking and may include a live attorney Q&A panel, a format that has been especially popular in prior years.
Featured Attorneys & Topics
Jenna Leyton-Jones
Jenna H. Leyton-Jones is an experienced employment law attorney and trusted business advisor who helps companies in all industries grow their bottom lines. Through employment law counseling, employee training, and impartial workplace investigations, Jenna provides employers with the tools and information they need to create a thriving workforce and achieve their business goals.
A frequent speaker at human resource seminars, Jenna derives enormous personal and professional satisfaction from educating employers on their legal obligations and assisting them with compliance and risk management. She strongly believes in the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and helps her clients institute effective policies and practices that both protect the organization and promote a respectful, congenial working environment for its employees.
Jenna has been awarded an "AV Preeminent" rating by Martindale Hubbell for achieving the highest level of professional excellence based on her legal knowledge, communication skills, and ethical standards. She has also been selected for inclusion on the Super Lawyers®, San Diego Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar,” and San Diego Magazine’s “Top Lawyers” lists.
Robert Nadalin
Robert G. Nadalin is certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization as a Specialist in the field of Immigration and Nationality Law. He received his J.D. from South Texas College of Law in 1998 and his B.A. in Japanese from Ohio State University in 1993. Mr. Nadalin previously served as the AILA San Diego Chapter President, a National Board of Governors member, and a National Committee Member of the AILA USCIS California Service Center Liaison Committee. He is a member of the State Bars of California and Texas.
Christopher Olmsted
Christopher is a shareholder in the firm’s San Diego office. Christopher helps businesses avoid employment-related legal claims by providing California employment law compliance advice. He also defends employers in a variety of litigation matters.
California employment law, ever changing and always multifaceted, confounds employers and can deliver bruising liability. Christopher helps businesses thrive in this challenging environment.
Twenty-five years of litigation experience, combined with a long history of advising employers on a broad array of compliance matters, enables him to offer his clients practical, succinct, and creative advice.
Christopher leads a group of compliance attorneys in the San Diego office. He also serves as a member of Ogletree Deakins’ California Advice Group, a network of California attorneys who lend expertise to the clients of Ogletree Deakins’ attorneys in our offices across the nation.
Christopher has served as an instructor at Cal State University San Marcos, teaching a course titled “Legal Issues for HR Professionals” as part of the Human Resource Management certificate Program. He is frequently an invited speaker for various industry groups and regularly publishes employment law articles.
Christopher has 25 years of experience litigating employment law claims. During that time, he has helped clients respond to just about every type of employment-related lawsuit that can be filed in California (and seriously, in California it’s a long list!). He works with a team of talented defense attorneys in the firm’s San Diego office, as well as the firm’s other offices throughout the state.
Christopher’s litigation experience includes: California FEHA and Title VII discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims; wrongful termination claims; wage and hour litigation (claims for overtime, unpaid wages, meal and rest breaks, and the like); claims involving California CFRA, federal FMLA, and other leaves of absences; misappropriation of trade secrets, non-competition, and nondisclosure agreements; California and federal ADA accommodation; independent contractor misclassification claims; Labor Commissioner claims (Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement claims), U.S. Department of Labor claims, EEOC and California Department of Fair Employment and Housing claims; EDD and Unemployment Insurance claims.
Christopher has represented clients in state and federal trials, arbitration proceedings, and administrative law hearings. Christopher also has experience representing clients on appeals before California state and federal courts of appeal.
Lauren Bushman
Lauren Bushman is a partner at Fisher Phillips where she defends companies up and down the coast of California when employees file wage and hour class action lawsuits and PAGA representative lawsuits. Lauren also advises clients on termination decisions, employee policies, and the best way to stay wage and hour complaint.
Renee Schor
Renée Schor has been practicing since 1990 helping employers around the world meet their vision for an ideal workplace. Her experience resulted in a core belief that if a company creates, communicates and reinforces clear expectations that are consistent with its goals, values and vision, the workplace “puzzle” can be solved. Her practice includes the following expertise:
Counseling on creating and enforcing policies and establishing human resource systems that are legally compliant, set clear expectations for the employee and the employer, and make business sense for the employer’s unique workplace, and providing ongoing counsel to support creating and reinforcing these systems;
Educating and training employers on means for creating and maintaining great workplaces, including on avoiding and investigating harassment, understanding leaves of absence and managing performance;
Investigating claims of misconduct, including harassment or discrimination;
Defending employers against claims of wage and hour violations, discrimination, harassment, retaliation and other employment-related claims.
David G. Hoiles, Jr.
David G. Hoiles, Jr. is a principal in the San Diego, California, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Dave represents employers and individual defendants in all types of employment litigation, including the defense of claims of sexual abuse (of minors) or harassment, unlawful employment discrimination and retaliation, failure to provide reasonable accommodations, breach of contract, intentional tort, and unfair competition. Dave also has significant experience defending employers in wage and hour litigation, including class and representative action lawsuits. Dave practices both in state and federal court and also before such tribunals as the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Civil Rights Department, and the California Department of Industrial Relations – Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. In addition to his skills as a litigator, Dave also has substantial experience counseling clients on a variety of employment-related issues and conducts training seminars, including sexual harassment prevention training.
While in law school, Dave was a judicial extern for the Honorable James M. Ideman, United States District Court, Central District of California. Dave regularly volunteers with the San Diego Family Justice Center, where he assists victims of domestic violence in their efforts to obtain restraining orders against abusive individuals with whom the victims have a relationship. Prior to moving to San Diego in 2014, Dave provided similar pro bono services to the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Domestic Violence Project.
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