Home>BioSchreibergFran2009-06

    Steering Committee Member



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    Frances C. Schreiberg of Counsel to Kazan McClain Lyons Greenwood & Harley;  admitted to New York (1972) and California (1973) Bars; New York University School of Law (J.D., 1972); Northwestern University (B.A., 1968).

    I became a lawyer in order to help defend many forms of resistance during the height of the Vietnam anti-war movement. After practicing as a criminal defense attorney with a number of public defender offices, I taught juvenile law and supervised a criminal law clinic at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

    Having been an active union member throughout my work life, I switched my emphasis in the mid-70's to defending the rights of workers. I consulted with and later worked for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, training administrative law judges, attorneys and investigators.

    Between 1980 and 1984, I worked for the State of California, Department of Industrial Relations, and among other tasks, managed the criminal Bureau of Investigations at Cal/OSHA. This unit prosecuted companies when workers were killed or maimed as a result of unsafe or unhealthful conditions on the job. I also worked from 1984 to 1991 for the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California, developed an occupational safety and health program for them, and was involved with a variety of construction trade union issues.

    I joined The Firm in 1991 because of this office's commitment to worker health and safety. My practice focuses on occupational safety and health issues in the legislative, regulatory and policy arena, and includes impact litigation. I continue to train union representatives, stewards, law enforcement personnel, Cal/OSHA personnel and others regarding labor and occupational safety and health issues. I also train young attorneys, law students, and others on how to litigate cases utilizing mock trials focusing on occupational safety and health fact patterns.

    Since 1984 I have been an active member of several Cal/OSHA regulatory advisory committees, including ones for asbestos, lead, diacetyl and numerous other toxics, ergonomics, fall protection, injury and illness prevention programs, rebar caps, and multi-employer worksite responsibilities. I am a member of Consumer Attorneys of California; Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association; AFL-CIO Lawyers' Coordinating Committee; Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of California; and the National Lawyers Guild Labor & Employment Committee (NLG L&EC). I am on the steering committee of the NLG L&EC as membership chair, and I edit the newsletter. I am also a Worksafe board member.

    I live in San Francisco’s North Beach not too far from my daughter Rachael, who graduated Cornell’s Department of Architecture in 2007 and works as an architect at Bull Stockwell and Allen.