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Sarah Levitan Kaatz is a shareholder in the Monterey office and co-chair of the firm's Student Practice Group. She specializes in labor and employment law and student issues for school districts. Ms. Kaatz spent two years with the U.S. Department of Labor in its Office of Administrative Hearings before joining Lozano Smith. She also worked as a law clerk for San Mateo County Counsel, San Mateo District Attorney's Office, and the Palo Alto City Attorney. Since joining Lozano Smith in 1999, Ms. Kaatz has advised K-12 school districts and community college districts with regard to classified and certificated employment issues, labor relations and student related concerns.
Ms. Kaatz has represented clients in numerous administrative proceedings, discipline hearings and appeals, and grievance arbitrations. She negotiates collective bargaining agreements on behalf of school district clients using both traditional and interest based bargaining approaches. She regularly advises clients regarding discrimination complaints, personnel investigations, labor law compliance and related personnel issues.
Ms. Kaatz is a frequent presenter to school audiences, including ACSA and CSBA, on issues such as sexual harassment prevention, employment discrimination, employee and student discipline, and cyber-bullying. She is also a regular presenter of student and employment topics at Lozano Smith's Central Coast Education Law Consortium.
Ms. Kaatz earned her J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, and laid her roots in the Central Coast while attending the University of California at Santa Cruz as an undergraduate. | 