Menu
Menu
President
Sonya Z. Mehta is a trial and appellate attorney with Siegel, Yee, Brunner & Mehta. She represents public and private sector labor unions, individual employees, consumers, students, and community organizations. Ms. Mehta is an experienced and committed advocate for workers’ and civil rights. She has won a six-figure jury verdict, favorable bench rulings, and significant settlements in whistleblower, discrimination, and other civil rights cases.
She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and received her law degree from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law. Before practicing law, Ms. Mehta was the Co-Executive Director of community and workers’ organization Young Workers United (YWU) in San Francisco. At YWU, she won the first paid sick leave law in the country through a 2006 San Francisco ballot initiative.
Vice President
Maria Morga is a Supervising Deputy State Public Defender with the Office of the State Public Defender where she litigates complex capital appeals. Maria has over 15 years experience in criminal matters as both a trial and appellate attorney. A graduate of Berkeley School of Law, Maria began her legal career at Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal and after some twists and turns, later moved to become a Deputy Public Defender with the San Francisco City and County Office of the Public Defender. Maria is also a member of CACJ (California Attorneys for Criminal Justice), a member of CPDA (California Public Defenders Association), a member of CWL (California Women Lawyers), and the ACBA (Alameda County Bar Association). Maria is fluent in Spanish.
Treasurer
Mai Linh Spencer is an Associate Clinical Professor at UC Hastings College of the Law, where she teaches the Individual Representation Clinic, Evidence, and Essential Lawyering Skills. She is also the Academic Director of the Lawyers for America Fellowship program.
Linh was a Women and Gender Studies major at Amherst College and worked for four years as an advocate at a battered women’s shelter and rape crisis line before attending New York University School of Law. She began her legal career as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, prosecuting federal criminal civil rights violations, including excessive force, racial violence, and trafficking cases. She then moved to the Bay Area and represented capital and non-capital defendants on direct appeal and habeas as a Deputy State Public Defender, before entering clinical teaching.
Secretary
Lacey Bangle is Senior Litigation Counsel for Roblox Corporation, where she handles a wide range of litigation and pre-litigation matters; works to spot and mitigate legal risk; and provides practical, business-centric legal advice to internal clients. Previously, Lacey was Senior Litigation Counsel at Zynga, and prior to that, a Senior Associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in its White Collar, Investigations, Securities Litigation & Compliance group. While at Orrick, Lacey helped companies and individuals navigate a range of civil and criminal matters, including government and internal investigations, shareholder disputes, securities litigation, and a variety of complex civil litigation. She is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley School of Law and a recipient of the Minority Bar Coalition Unity Award.
Judicial Liaison
Jennifer Madden was elected to the Alameda County Superior Court bench in June of 2016 and sits in a Criminal Law assignment in Oakland, CA. Prior to serving on the bench, Judge Madden served as an Assistant I District Attorney at the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for nineteen years. She last served as the head of the Human Exploitation and Trafficking (H.E.A.T) Unit and managed a team who prosecuted traffickers and engaged the community and law enforcement in trainings on Human Trafficking. She is a graduate of the Berkeley School of Law.
Judge Madden is passionate about service to the legal community. Since 1998, she has dedicated many hours to the Charles Houston Bar Association and the California Association of Black Lawyers, where she served as President of both organizations. She continues to be an active member of both groups and has mentored a number of young lawyers, law students and high school students. Prior service to the community includes the Board of the YMCA, Urban Services Division and a trek to India in 2012 to build houses with Habitat For Humanity. Judge Madden is most proud of her nineteen-year commitment volunteering with the Charlotte Maxwell Clinic, where she assisted low-income women who live with cancer.
Noël Wise was appointed to the California Superior Court, County of Alameda, by Gov. Brown in 2014. She currently serves as the Supervising Judge of the Appellate Division and the Acting Supervising Judge of the Civil Division where she also has a Civil Direct Calendar Department. After her judicial clerkship she joined the United States Department of Justice through the Honors Program and served as a Trial Attorney in Washington D.C. and an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern Dist. of California. In addition to work in private practice and as in-house counsel, she has taught at numerous law schools including Berkeley and Stanford. She has written various articles including America’s Judiciary Doesn’t Look Like America: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/americas-judiciary-doesnt-look-like-america/616692/. Judge Wise also serves on the board of Girls Inc. of Alameda County, the Alameda Food Bank, and Legal Access Alameda.
Abby Harrington Putzulu is an associate in Fisher Phillips’ San Francisco office. She represents employers in all aspects of labor and employment law.
Prior to law school Abby worked as a teacher and a school administrator in both Nashville, TN and Washington, D.C. During her time in law school, Abby gained experience in the Individual Representation Clinic litigating a wage and hour case in Santa Clara Superior Court. She was the Executive Notes Editor for the UC Hastings Women’s Law Journal, Vice President of the Women’s Law Society, served on the Hastings Curriculum Committee, and competed on the Trial Team.
Crystal Matson serves as a transactional attorney in the Office of the General Counsel for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (“BART”). She handles a myriad of contracts for BART including construction contracts, professional service agreements, and leases. In addition to drafting contracts, she provides guidance to BART’s Business Advisory Council and its Office of Civil Rights preventing discrimination in contracting and promoting small business utilization. Prior to joining BART, Crystal was the lead Staff Attorney for the Legal Services for Entrepreneurs program at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. She also served as a Legal Research Attorney for the San Francisco County Superior Court at the Hall of Justice. Crystal is the immediate past president of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board of the East Oakland Black Cultural Zone. She is a Spelman College alumna and received her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. Crystal is married to George Matson Jr. and has two dogs, Xena and Chase.
Elizabeth Schwartz is an associate with Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost (F3). She represents school districts in California primarily focusing on special education and student services issues. She serves as the Office Managing Associate in F3’s Oakland office. Elizabeth earned her undergraduate degree from Miami University and her J.D. from the University of Oregon. Before attending law school, Elizabeth taught second grade in Oklahoma City, OK
Erica Summan is a trial attorney with Wood Smith Henning and Berman LLP. She defends clients in complex personal injury, habitability, and construction defect claims. She previously practiced in tort defense, contract law, products liability defense, pharmaceutical malpractice, property law, and corporate law.
She is also on the Executive Committee for the Trial Practice Section of Alameda County Bar Association. She earned her J.D. from Southwestern Law School and her B.A. from UC Santa Barbara. While in law school, she interned for Vice Dean Anahid Gharakhanian and was awarded for her devoted work in representing minorities in the legal field.
Madeline Cline is a 3L at UC Hastings interested in labor law and civil rights issues. Madeline is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Constitutional Law Quarterly and on the executive board of the UC Hastings Chapter of the If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice. She also volunteers in the UC Hastings Community Justice Clinic helping with wage and hour claims.
Before law school Madeline worked as a Paralegal at a boutique firm in San Francisco. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. While at Berkeley, Madeline was a member of the D1 Women’s Rowing Team.
©2022 Women Lawyers of Alameda County – All rights reserved