Law Firm Overview

Ms. Foster is an attorney and certified mediator who focuses her practice on family and employment law matters. As an attorney, she advocates for the best interests of her individual and business clients. In handling disputes, Ms. Foster assists her clients to achieve expedited and cost-effective resolutions, where appropriate, through detailed case assessment and mediation or negotiations, as well as representing clients in court, arbitration and administrative hearings. She also provides her clients with legal counseling to assist them in complying with applicable legal standards and best practices.

As a mediator, Ms. Foster assists parties in reaching a voluntary and mutually beneficial settlement outside of the adversarial environment of the courtroom. She is able to bring a neutral perspective, her knowledge of the law and multiple, facilitative tools to assist the parties in overcoming any impasses or difficulties in communication.

In her practice, she focuses on the following legal issues:

Family Law:

• Divorce
• Child Custody and Visitation
• Child Support
• Spousal Support
• Property and Asset Division
• Premarital and Marital Agreements
• Divorce and Family Mediation

Employment Law:

• Employment Law Counseling
• Employment and Severance Agreements
• Employee Handbooks
• Discrimination
• Sexual Harassment
• Wrongful Termination
• Workplace Investigations and Audits
• Employment Mediation

Prior Experience

Before becoming a solo practitioner, Ms. Foster worked at Shearman & Sterling LLP, where she represented multinational corporations and investment banks on employment law and executive compensation issues. Her experience includes handling labor and employment matters in connection with complex corporate transactions, including Cadbury Schweppes' $4.2 billion acquisition of Pfizer's Adams candy business, Barrick Gold Corporation's $2.3 billion acquisition of Homestake Mining Company and Viacom's spin off of Blockbuster. In addition, her experience includes handling the following, among other things:

• Employee terminations, including reductions in force and individual terminations.
• Compensation and benefit plans.
• SEC filings and corporate governance matters.
• Due diligence reviews and audits.
• Human resource policies and procedures, including employee handbooks and company communications.
• Employment agreements and severance arrangements for senior executives (including change-in-control, non-compete, trade secret, indemnification and consulting agreements).

Areas of Practice

• Family Law
• Divorce
• Child Custody and Visitation
• Child Support
• Spousal Support
• Property and Asset Division
• Divorce and Family Mediation
• Employment Law
• Employment Law Counseling
• Employment and Severance Agreements
• Employee Handbooks
• Discrimination
• Sexual Harassment
• Wrongful Termination
• Workplace Investigations and Audits
• Employment Mediation

Classes and Seminars

• "Mediating the Litigated Case" Mediation Training, Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law

West Practice Categories

Mediation, Age Discrimination, Disability & Illness Discrimination, National Origin Discrimination, Race Discrimination, Religious Discrimination, Sex Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Americans with Disabilities Act -- Employee, Employee Rights -- Employee, Employment Contracts -- Employee, Employment Discrimination -- Employee, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) -- Employee, Sexual Harassment -- Employee, Wrongful Termination -- Employee, Affirmative Action -- Employer, Americans with Disabilities Act -- Employer, Employee Rights -- Employer, Employment Contracts -- Employer, Employment Discrimination -- Employer, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) -- Employer, Sexual Harassment -- Employer, Wrongful Termination -- Employer, Alimony & Spousal Support, Child Support, Collaborative Law, Custody & Visitation, Divorce, Domestic Violence & Neglect, Paternity, Prenuptial Agreements