The Huntington Beach and Westlake Village Lawyers at McMillion & Hirtensteiner, LLP are ready to help you with just about any type of legal issues you or your business may face in California. Our Huntington Beach and Westlake Village Attorneys represent a myriad of clients from all over the State. Our lawyers, with offices in Los Angeles County and Orange County, are equipped with the latest technology, making the geographic location of our clients in California almost irrelevant. With handhelds, laptops, and the latest in legal technology, we effectively represent clients, large and small, across Los Angeles County, Orange County, and the rest of California.

PARTNERS:

JANINE S. McMILLION, Esq.

Ms. McMillion has developed a substantial business clientele of both private and public clients. Ms. McMillion has an extensive practice in labor and employment cases in both State and Federal Courts. She has successfully defended both corporate and government clients in discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, and wage-and-hour class-actions. With the ever changing environment of employment cases, Ms. McMillion has been extremely successful in resolving complicated employment cases in early mediation and arbitration, and very often in summary judgment.

She also provides continuous sexual harassment training for clients as well as preparing employment manuals and advising clients with respect to employment related matters such as wage and hour law, prevention of sexual harassment and litigation, day to day issues, and policies and procedures.

Ms. McMillion, a former prosecutor for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, also has extensive experience at trial in criminal and civil litigation, representing clients in front of state and federal agencies such as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Equal Opportunity Commission, as well as administrative discipline hearings on behalf of government entities.

In 2005, Ms. McMillion was selected as a "Rising Star" by Southern California Super Lawyers, an honor bestowed upon only the top 2.5% of up and coming attorneys under 40 years of age. Ms. McMillion is also very active in her community and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation of Orange County.

Ms. McMillion holds a J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Science in International Business Finance from the University of Southern California.

SHANNON M. HIRTENSTEINER, Esq.

A graduate of Pepperdine University, Ms. Hirtensteiner received her Bachelor of Arts in 1996 with a Major in Political Science and a Minor in History and her Juris Doctor in 1999. During law school, Hirtensteiner was a recipient of the Howard A. White Scholarship and competed in the Fall Individual Advocacy Tournament and the Vincent S. Dalsimer Moot Court competition.

She served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Andrew J. Wistrich of the United States District Court in the Central Judicial District. During her undergraduate work, she ran cross country for Pepperdine and also studied in Heidelberg, Germany through the Year-in-Europe Program.

Ms. Hirtensteiner has experience in the following areas of litigation: employment, general liability defense, products liability, premises liability, construction defect, business and copyright; family law matters; and transactional work.

Hirtensteiner volunteers as a coach for the mock trial team at Trinity Pacific Christian School. An avid runner, she continues to volunteer as the Assistant Coach for the Pepperdine Women's Cross Country team. Ms. Hirtensteiner won the 2007 decision, Hansraj Parmar v. County of Los Angeles, et al., from the Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District. Ms. Hirtensteiner also authored “Proposition 187 and Equal Protection” as featured in the Los Angeles Daily News, the San Diego Union Tribune, and the Contra Costa Times.

ATTORNEYS:

Sylvia Havens, Esq.

Sylvia Havens is a graduate of Southwestern University School of Law (J.D. 1988) and was ranked 18th in her class. She was a two-time merit scholar (1987 and 1988), Designated Southwestern Dean's Scholar and received an invitational entry to The Dean's List. During law school, Ms. Havens attended the Institute on International & Comparative Law in Paris, France through which she received diplomas in 1986 and again in 1987. She received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (B.A. 1984), majoring in English and History, with a Minor in French and a certificate in Women's Studies. She was a Junior Year Abroad participant, attending the Institute de Sorbonne and the Universitie de Tours in France. Also as an undergraduate, Ms. Havens was a two-time merit scholar (1982 and 1983), History honors member of Phi Alpha Theta, and Honors degree graduate in English.

Ms. Havens is a Certified Specialist, Appellate Law by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization since 2005. Ms. Havens has written over 50 appellate briefs and argued more than 20 cases before appellate courts at the state and federal level. Ms. Havens has written briefs resulting in published opinions, notably: Benay v. Warner Bros. Entm't, Inc., 607 F.3d 620 (9th Cir.2010); Brescia v. Angelin, 172 Cal.App.4th 133 (2009); Capri v. L.A. Fitness International, LLC, 136 Cal.App.4th 1078 (2006); Grosso v. Miramax Film Corp., 383 F.3d 965 (9th Cir.2004); and People ex rel. Allstate Ins. Co. v. Weitzman, 107 Cal.App.4th 534 (2003).

Ms. Havens has achieved the AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell®, the highest rating of professional excellence earned through a strenuous Peer Review Rating process. As described by Martindale-Hubbell®, “AV Preeminent® is a significant rating accomplishment - a testament to the fact that a lawyer's peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence.”

Ms. Havens also was named to the Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers (2013 edition). In 2012, Ms. Havens was named to the elite list of Southern California Super Lawyers. Southern California Super Lawyers® annually lists the top five-percent of lawyers practicing in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

Ms. Havens is currently a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Appellate Courts Section (beginning in 1994 when it was a committee) and serving on the Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee (beginning in 2006). She also has served on the Los Angeles County Bar Association Amicus Briefs Committee and as an appointed panel member for the California Appellate Project from which the Second District Court of Appeal selects appellate attorneys to represent indigent clients.

Ms. Havens also is a published author of, for example, The Motion for New Trial—A Final Opportunity to Clean up the Record, Appellate Tips for Trial Lawyers, Volume II, Number 3, an E-Publication of Los Angeles County Bar Association, December 2009 and author for James Publishing Company. Ms. Havens is also a frequent lecturer in areas such as Electronic Filing at the Ninth Circuit; Business and Professions Code section 17200, Proposition 64 and Class Actions; The Small Claims Trial; U.S. Supreme Court Tidbits; and How to Present a Winning Appellate Argument.

Ms. Havens has enjoyed volunteer work, such as assisting the Volunteer Lawyers Project as a volunteer Family Law attorney, or presiding over small claims matters as a judge pro tempore for the Los Angeles Judicial District Program. She also has been a panel member of the Los Angeles County Volunteer Arbitrators Program through which she presided over a variety of arbitrations.

Ms. Havens has over two decades of experience in handling a wide variety of cases, from motor vehicle accident to public entity liability to employment law and real estate litigation. She has taken hundreds of depositions, arbitrated 50 or more matters, taken cases to jury and bench trials and defended cases on appeal.

Denise M. Caprioli, Esq.

Denise M. Caprioli has had a dynamic career as a public and private attorney. She graduated from the University of California at Davis with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/Public Service and received her Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University. Thereafter, she became an active trial attorney where she has gained over 20 years of litigation experience. She has practiced both as a private attorney in the insurance defense sector where she fought fraudulent, frivolous and excessive claims, and in the public sector where she defended the interests of peace officers, government entities and officials in civil rights cases.

Ms. Caprioli has handled all aspects of complex litigation involving allegations of general negligence, premises liability, sexual harassment, wage and hour, defamation, breach of contract, wrongful death, excessive force, false arrest, false imprisonment, conspiracy, attorney malpractice and violations of ADA. Ms. Caprioli has established an incredible record of winning cases in state and federal courts.

Ms. Caprioli was the 2005 recipient of the Civilian Leadership Award from the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. She is currently a volunteer Ombudsman for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

M. Lauren Olander

M. Lauren Olander is a graduate of Boston University, where she received a double-major Bachelor of Arts degree in the fields of Psychology and Criminal Justice and a minor Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 1988. Ms. Olander earned her Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1991. During her time in law school, during her summers and immediately following graduation, Ms. Olander worked for both the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office and the San Diego District Attorney’s Office where she gained significant litigation experience through preliminary hearings, evidentiary hearings, as well as court and jury trials.

Prior to joining McMillion & Hirtensteiner, LLP, Ms. Olander gained extensive litigation experience working for a large litigation and insurance defense firm, where she gained extensive experience in the area of insurance fraud litigation. She has worked with various insurance companies to assist in the prosecution of complex and sophisticated fraud rings and “whistle-blower” cases. She has also worked on cases involving various insurance fraud related areas, insurance bad faith, and insurance coverage issues. Her suspect fraud litigation experience has also focused on fraudulently filed Worker’s Compensation Claims and defense of those matters in the civil arena.

ALEXANDRA J. GUGLIUZZA, Esq.

Ms. Gugliuzza is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. Ms. Gugliuzza obtained her Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles in 1999. Ms. Gugliuzza was a member of the 1999 Loyola Moot Court Team actively competing in national competitions on behalf of the Law School. Additionally, Ms. Gugliuzza interned at the California Department of Corporations Enforcement Division specializing in Securities Fraud.

Prior to joining McMillion & Hirtensteiner, LLP, Ms. Gugliuzza gained extensive legal experience working for a large employment and insurance defense firm. Ms. Gugliuzza was instrumental in providing seminars to clients on various issues including risk prevention and strategies for avoiding workplace harassment. Ms. Gugliuzza also has a well-established background in business and corporate law gained through her tenure as in-house counsel for a large U.S.-based electronics distributor. Ms. Gugliuzza’s collective work experience has provided her with knowledge in the following areas of practice: general liability defense; products liability; premises liability; labor and employment; real estate; business contract and licensing; corporate policy; corporations; copyright and trademark; and collections.