University of California, Hastings College of the Law

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Pace Academy

Legal Leader @ Plaid  -  -  Legal Advisor, People Leader, Business Empath, Enthusiastic Puzzle-Solver  -  -  Nimbly charting an innovative & mission-oriented course through complex terrain

San Francisco Bay Area

- Head Plaid’s Enterprise Solutions legal team, responsible directly to Plaid’s General Counsel, leading and scaling a team of attorneys and legal professionals responsible for global employment and investigations, IP and innovation, litigation and competition, and regulatory and privacy
-  Promote culture of context-based, practical risk awareness to enable balanced, informed decision-making and safeguard business, people, and brand, by leveraging proactive communication and approachable education
-  Partner with senior leaders on company- and function-level goals, collaborating to identify, craft, and implement efficient and effective solutions to achieve operational and cultural success
-  Serve as executive sponsor of Plaid’s Legal DEIB Committee, a group dedicated to championing DEIB within legal recruiting, hiring, and the workplace

Plaid

Legal Lead

- As first employment & litigation counsel, build out employment and litigation areas
-  Counsel cross-functional partners on practical solutions for domestic and international employment issues spanning entire employee life cycle
-  Craft and update key policies, handbooks, and Code of Conduct to ensure compliance with applicable laws and understanding among employee population
-  Evaluate and advise on investigations of employee relations, ethics, and other matters
-  In collaboration with key stakeholders, design, implement, and evolve company-wide strategic response to COVID-19 and Return to Work
-  Strategically manage, with key legal stakeholders, all filed and threatened litigation, including evaluating desired outcomes and setting case strategy

Employment & Litigation Counsel

- Advise and counsel clients regarding compliance with federal, state and local employment laws, practical solutions to array of personnel/employment and compliance issues, ediscovery and document preservation, and internal investigations into complaints of discrimination, harassment, retaliation (including whistleblowing), bullying, etc.
- Prepare employee handbooks/manuals and policies and conduct mandatory California bullying and harassment training for supervisory employees
- Defend employers in federal and state court, regulatory and arbitral forums on claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation (including whistleblowing), wrongful termination, defamation, tortious interference, breach of contract, unfair competition, wage and hour violations, etc.
- Recognized in Super Lawyers Magazine as Northern California Rising Star from 2013-present

Keesal, Young & Logan

Shareholder

- Participate in WILpower, a year-long career and leadership development program facilitated by Leading Women in Technology ("LWT"), including interactive workshops led by thought leaders in their respective fields and focused on impact communication, negotiation, goals-setting and related topics
- As a "Ring Leader" (2018), facilitate group discussion among WILpower participants focused on developing strategies and tactics to advance participants' careers and leadership opportunities

Elyse Whitehead