Our People

Pilar Morin

Partner, Los Angeles

310.981.2004
pmorin@lcwlegal.com
Bio
Experience Representative Matters Affiliations Awards Publications Presentations

Pilar is experienced in all phases of trial practice, including litigation before state and federal courts, administrative bodies, and alternative dispute resolution procedures such as mediation and arbitration. She represents our clients in all aspects of employment law including employee discipline, due process, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation and privacy issues. 

Pilar represents public agencies and public and independent educational institutions, in such areas as personnel and student matters, and general business law, including contracts and trademark issues.

Pilar is also experienced in conducting and assisting with investigations pertaining to harassment, discrimination and employee misconduct.  Pilar advises and conducts training for clients concerning best practices and compliance with state and federal laws.

Pilar is also a contributing author to the firm's California Public Agency Labor & Employment Blog.

Pilar is bilingual and conducts investigations and training in Spanish.

Representative Matters

Appellate

  • Davis v. Los Angeles Unified School District Personnel Commission (2007) - Case involving a classified employee whose demotion was reversed by the Personnel Commission. Petitioner sought a petition for writ of mandamus seeking immediate reinstatement and back pay, despite a non-work related disability that began before he was demoted. The Court of Appeal held the employee was not entitled to reinstatement if he could not return to active duty, and that the employee was not entitled to back pay because the employee could not work during the time at issue due to his non-industrial disability. His illness--not his demotion or employment--was the sole cause of his inability to work and, consequently, he was not entitled to back pay.

Litigation

  • Wells v. Los Angeles Unified School District (2010) -

    This case involved five Plaintiffs who were employees with three different schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District and sued the District for various FEHA violations.  The court severed the cases finding they were not related.  Plaintiff Wells was a teacher under investigation for sending photographs and  text messages involving an Assistant Principal.  Plaintiff refused to participate in the harassment investigation.  Due to his actions, LAUSD transferred him off campus.  Plaintiff refused to report to the new school.  He sued claiming sexual and racial harassment, retaliation, as well as failure to prevent sexual harassment, racial harassment, and retaliation.  The Court entered summary judgment in favor of LAUSD.

  • Yevnovkian v. Los Angeles Unified School District (2010) -

    Petitioner Joseph R. Yenovkian sought a writ of mandamus to resinstate him to his teaching position with the Los Angeles Unified School District after he resigned and retired via a supplemental retirement program administered via a third party, the Public Agency Retirement Services (PARS).  Petitioner argued that his resignation was not effective because PARS was not authorized under the Education Code to receive a resignation on behalf of LAUSD.  He also argued that he did not intend retire, that that his retirement was obtained by fraud or undue influence, and that the District should be estopped from processing the resignation because his supervisor did not sign his resignation form.  The Court denied his Petition for Writ of Mandate. The parties settled the remaining causes of action.

  • Coppi v. City of West Covina (2010) - In a jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, the jury issued a defense verdict in a disability discrimination case.  Plaintiff, a Police Officer, claimed that the City discriminated against him because he had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by reassigning him from patrol duties to a desk assignment.  The City asserted as affirmative defenses that it had legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for Plaintiff's reassignment.  The jury issued a verdict in favor of the City finding that Plaintiff did not suffer an adverse employment action.  Prior to trial, we won summary adjudication on Plaintiff's claims under the Fair Employment and Housing Act for failure to engage in the interactive process and retaliation. 
  • Jessica Jackson v. LAUSD (2009) - Court granted summary judgment in favor of LAUSD in this alleged race discrimination, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination under FEHA case.
  • Alice Johnson v. LAUSD (2009) - Summary judgment in favor of LAUSD and against a special education teacher's assistant alleging discrimination based on race, and failure to prevent discrimination under FEHA. Plaintiff claimed she was demoted and improperly and repeatedly disciplined due to her race. However, this plaintiff had a lengthy disciplinary history starting from 2000 and was repeatedly written up and disciplined for failing to adequately supervise her assigned student (who suffered from seizures), reporting late to her post after breaks, falsifying her time records, and insubordination, among various other performance issues.
  • Davis v. LAUSD (2006) - Obtained judgment in favor of the Los Angeles Unified School District in a case involving a petition for writ of administrative mandate where an employee claimed he was wrongfully separated him from his employment after he exhausted all available leave during his non-work related disability. The petitioner sought an order awarding him reinstatement, attorneys fees and costs, full back pay, restorations of benefits, reimbursement of PERS taxes, and other monetary damages.

Affiliations

California Council of School Attorneys (CCSA)

Latina Lawyers of Los Angeles

Mexican American Bar Association

Los Angeles County Bar Association

Awards

Selected for inclusion in Southern California Rising Stars 2006 - 2010

Publications

Presentations

Education

  • JD, University of California, Hastings College of Law
  • BA, University of California, Berkeley
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