Profile
Working out of both the Sacramento and San Francisco offices of Murphy Pearson, shareholder Kim Shields’ practice emphasizes litigation, employment law, and professional liability.
Employment Law
Kim’s practice includes the defense of public entities, private entities, and corporations against employment suits involving claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination in state and federal courts, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and other administrative agencies. She provides Mandatory Sexual Harassment Prevention Training pursuant to AB 1825 for clients throughout the State of California. She routinely provides outside counsel services to clients in connection with wage and hour issues and advises employers on handbook policies and procedures.
Construction and Real Estate
In her professional liability practice, Kim routinely defends California homeowners’ associations and their corporate officers. She also represents architects, engineers and design professionals in professional negligence suits. She has defended developers, general contractors, and subcontractors in construction defect litigation and has a wide breadth of knowledge concerning AIA contract documents, environmental initiatives such as LEED and CALGreen, and other construction industry standards, customs, and practice. She frequently presents to her design professional clients regarding effective risk management strategies for avoiding and mitigating claims of malpractice.
Experience
Representative Matters
- Represented hotel group in sexual harassment and wrongful termination case, settled favorably on the eve of trial.
- Professional liability/construction defect action involving claims of architect malpractice for alleged negligent design and supervision, settled favorably on the eve of trial.
- Discrimination, wrongful termination and whistleblower case, settled favorably prior to filing of formal complaint by plaintiff.
- Represented subcontractor in multi-million dollar construction defect action, resolved favorably after filing dispositive motion.
Affiliations
- California State Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- American Institute of Architects (San Francisco)
- University of San Francisco School of Law’s annual Moot Court Competition, volunteer
Publications
- “Duty and the Design Professional,” Defense Research Institute’s The Voice, September 2014
- “Avoid the Noid: An Employer’s Guide to Drafting Social Media Plans,” Bloomberg BNA Social Media Law & Policy Report, July 2012
- “Legal Ease: 4 Steps Design Professionals can take to Manage and Minimize Risk in Green and Sustainable Building Projects,” Environmental Design & Construction, August 2012
- “Coming Home: Dealing With USERRA’s Negative Implications,” California Employment Law Letter, 2008
Presentations
- “Recent Trends in Miscellaneous Professional Liability Claims,” co-presenter, internal insurance client presentation, New York, May 2017
- “Sexual Harassment Prevention Training,” co-presenter to attorney managers, San Francisco, November 2016
- “Sexual Harassment Prevention Training,” presenter, to supervisorial employees of hotel group, June 2016
- “Effective Risk Management for Design Professionals,” presented to architectural design firm, March 2015
- “Emerging Topics in Legal Malpractice Defense,” co-presenter to attorney and CPA clients, June 2014
Recognitions
- Selected for inclusion in Northern California Rising Stars by Super Lawyers magazine (2018 – present)
Education
J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law, cum laude
B.A., International Relations, University of California, Davis with honors