The Law Office of Elise Vasquez

Most of the work at The Law Office of Elise Vasquez comes from the employer's side of the table: a manager's complaint that needs investigating, a layoff that has to be planned, a former employee's lawsuit, or a contract dispute between two businesses. Elise Ruth Vasquez runs the practice on her own in Redwood City and appears on the State Bar of California register as member 201190, with active status. The chamber's import placed the office at 1182 King Street; her website and Bar record now give 50 Woodside Plaza, #455, which the Bar lists as a mailbox unit, so confirm the phone and a meeting place before you go anywhere.

Employment and business disputes

Her site groups the practice into four areas. The first is labor and employment counseling and litigation, covering discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, wage and hour claims, exempt classification and reductions in force. The second is workplace investigations into complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and abusive conduct. The third is the harassment and abusive conduct prevention training that California requires of employers with five or more workers, and the fourth is business and commercial litigation, including contract and intellectual property disputes.

The practice does not describe immigration, family or personal injury work, so someone looking for those should look elsewhere in the directory.

What to have ready for a first call

Deadlines drive employment cases, so note the date on any demand letter, agency charge from the Civil Rights Department or the EEOC, or court papers, and mention it first. Gather the employee handbook, the personnel file, pay records and the emails that matter, and write a short timeline. Ask how fees are charged, whether hourly for litigation or a set fee for training sessions, and expect a written engagement letter that states the scope. With a solo practice, the attorney you speak to is the one doing the work, which is worth confirming for anything that might go to trial.

Redwood City and the midpeninsula

From Redwood City the practice is within easy reach of employers in Woodside, Emerald Hills, San Carlos, Atherton, Menlo Park, Belmont and Portola Valley, and the San Mateo County courthouse is downtown on Middlefield Road.

This listing's phone is 650-632-4326. The firm's website gives 650-362-4313 for the office; use that number if the listing number does not reach her.