Anne Richardson

Anne Richardson specializes in employment law and discrimination, civil rights, and international human rights law. She represents employees at all stages of litigation, from negotiations and litigation through trial and appeals. She has been co-counsel or lead counsel on numerous successful employment cases, including Martin v. Texaco ($21 million verdict in sex discrimination failure to promote case), Schell v. City of Los Angeles ($4 million dollar verdict in retaliation case) and hundreds of confidential settlements. She has argued many appeals in both federal and state courts of appeal, including Blair v. City of Pomona (in which she successfully represented a police whistleblower) and Beyda v. City of Los Angeles (in which the court set forth the standard for admissibility of complaints by other victims of sexual harassment).

Ms. Richardson was one of the lead counsel on the Doe v. Unocal litigation against Unocal for its complicity in human rights violations during the construction of a gas pipeline in Burma for which slave labor was used. In 2006, Ms. Richardson was honored as one of the California Lawyers' Attorneys of the Year for her work on the Unocal case. She is currently representing one of the detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba in his habeas petition.

Ms. Richardson has been named one of the Top 50 Women Litigators in Southern California in 2008 and 2009, has been named a Super Lawyer every year since 2004, and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 2003. She was awarded the Pro Bono Advocacy Award by the ACLU of Southern California in June, 2006. She has received an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell (their highest rating), and was profiled by the Daily Journal in 1998.

Ms. Richardson attended Stanford Law School, where she graduated with Distinction, and Swarthmore College, where she received a B.A. in Philosophy. After graduation, she clerked for the Honorable Mariana R. Pfaelzer, U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California. She then joined Litt & Stormer as a Public Interest Fellow. In 1993, Ms. Richardson joined Hadsell & Stormer, and became a partner in 1998.

Ms. Richardson has taught as an Adjunct Professor at Loyola and Whittier Law Schools, teaching Civil Rights Litigation and Appellate Advocacy. She is the author of several articles and chapters, and has lectured before numerous state and national legal organizations. She is currently a Board Member of the ACLU of Southern California, a Charter Fellow of the Litigation Council of America, a member of the California Employment Lawyers Association, the National Employment Lawyers Association, the California Women Lawyers, and the National Lawyers Guild.