Our founder, John A. McGuinn, retired in 2019 after more than fifty years at the bar. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and his law degree from Berkeley Law (formerly the “Boalt Hall School of Law”). Besides being a celebrated trial lawyer, Mr. McGuinn was a renowned pioneer in the fields of employment law and workplace-discrimination law. His landmark case, Rulon-Miller v. I.B.M. (1984) 162 Cal. App. 3d 241, helped define the contours of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and privacy in the workplace. Mr. McGuinn was listed as one of the top employment-law specialists in the country in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers from the time of those publications’ first printing until the date of his retirement. He is an active and esteemed Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTLA), a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers, and a Fellow of the American College of Labor and Employment Law. Mr. McGuinn was elected President of President of CAL-ABOTA (all eight California Chapters) in 2001 and served as the President of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association in 1990. He lectured and spoke frequently at professional gatherings, conferences, and seminars throughout the nation. He also served as a private mediator and sat as a Judge Pro Tem in the California Superior Court for the City and County of San Francisco, where he presided over both jury and non-jury trials.