Andrea joined Ryley Carlock & Applewhite in 1999 and was elected to the position of shareholder in 2006.  Andrea practices primarily in the areas of labor and employment law and also has significant commercial litigation and appellate experience.

Andrea's labor and employment practice is devoted to counseling and defending employers faced with claims of sexual harassment, disability, gender, age, race, national origin and religious discrimination, wrongful discharge and various employment-related torts.  Andrea regularly represents employers in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Arizona Civil Rights Division.  Andrea also defends employers against unfair labor practice charges and represents employers in labor arbitrations under collective bargaining agreements.  Andrea conducts substantive training for clients on topics such as harassment avoidance and disability discrimination and has worked with a number of clients to develop effective workplace policies and employee handbooks.

Andrea is a contributing author of the ARIZONA EMPLOYMENT LAW HANDBOOK (2d ed. 2007), a comprehensive treatise addressing all aspects of employment law in Arizona, as well as ELKOURI & ELKOURI, HOW ARBITRATION WORKS, an authoritative treatise on labor arbitration.  Andrea has also published a number of law review and journal articles addressing unsettled labor, employment and litigation-related topics, and has made numerous presentations to human resources professionals and other attorneys concerning employment issues.

In addition to her labor and employment experience, Andrea has handled a number of commercial litigation matters and has effectively represented clients in all types of business disputes, including trade secret litigation, lender liability, securities industry disputes, condemnation and construction-related matters.

Andrea also has extensive appellate experience in both state and federal court.  In addition to having handled a number of employment-related appeals in the Arizona state appellate courts and in the Third, Fifth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals, Andrea worked for a year as a staff attorney for Division One of the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Andrea received her J.D. with honors from the University of Washington, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as a Topics Editor for the Washington Law Review.  Andrea received her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from the University of Puget Sound.

The Impact of a Partial Motion to Dismiss on the Defendant's Obligation to Answer, Arizona Attorney (September 2006)

Honing Our Kraft?: Reconciling Variations in the Remedial Treatment of Weingarten Violations, 21 Hofstra Lab. & Emp. L. J. 523 (2004)

Developing Effective Technology Policies - Tips for Employers, The Arizona Labor Letter (February 2000)

Presenter, Personnel Law Update 2005: Significant New Developments in Discrimination and Retaliation Law (June 2005)

Presenter, Employment Law Update: What Human Resource Professionals and Their Legal Counsel Need to Know (February 2004)

B.A., magna cum laude, University of Puget Sound (1996)

J.D., with honors, University of Washington (1999) (Order of the Coif) 

Arizona Industrial Relations Association

Arizona Women Lawyers Association

Defense Research Institute

Maricopa County Bar Association, Employment Law Section (Vice-Chair)

State Bar of Arizona, Labor & Employment Law Section

State Bar of Arizona (1999)

U.S. District Court, District of Arizona (1999)

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2006)

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (2002)

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2000)