Sarah Banola

Partner

Sarah Banola is a founding partner of BRB Law LLP. She concentrates her practice in the areas of regulatory law, employment law and professional responsibility. A significant portion of her regulatory practice includes representation of telecommunications companies in quasi-legislative, rate-setting, and adjudicatory matters at the California Public Utilities Commission as well as counseling public utilities regarding their regulatory compliance.  Her employment law background includes defense of claims of discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, and harassment. Sarah also advises clients on employee separations, severance agreements, classification of employees as exempt or non-exempt, investigations of sexual harassment complaints, leave and accommodation issues, and personnel policies. She has represented employers in proceedings before the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, the Employment Development Department, the California Labor Commissioner, and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Sarah also represents lawyers and law firms in matters related to legal ethics, legal negligence, attorney-client fee disputes, professional discipline, State Bar admission, conflicts of interest, and disqualification motions.

Prior to BRB Law, Sarah was a partner at Cooper, White & Cooper LLP’s San Francisco office where she practiced regulatory law, employment law and legal ethics for over thirteen years. Before joining Cooper, Sarah was an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP’s Palo Alto office where she handled complex commercial litigation.

Sarah earned her B.A. from Grinnell College in 1999 and her J.D. with honors in 2002 from Rutgers School of Law-Newark and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. While at Rutgers, Sarah served as an Articles Editor for the Computer and Technology Law Journal and Vice Chair of the Public Interest Law Foundation. After law school, Sarah served as a law clerk to the Honorable Louisa S. Porter, Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of California, and as a law clerk to the Honorable James J. Petrella, Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division for the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Sarah is the Advisor and immediate past Chair of the State Bar of California’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), the Secretary of the Conference of California Public Utility Counsel (CCPUC), and a member and past chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Legal Ethics Committee. She is also a member of the California Lawyers Association’s (CLA) Civility Task Force, the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF), and Women in Public Utilities (WIPU). She is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Northern and Eastern Districts of California and before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Selected Publications and Presentations

• Contributing Editor, Chin, Wiseman, Callahan and Exelrod, California Practice Guide: Employment Litigation (The Rutter Group, a division of West, a Thomson Reuters business, 2010-present) Ch. 2, Professional Responsibility

• Contributing Editor, Wiseman and Church Reese, California Practice Guide: California Claims and Defenses (The Rutter Group, a division of West, a Thomson Reuters business, 2012-2022) Ch. 6.B, Legal Malpractice

• Moderator, No Longer Science Fiction:  The Reality of Generative AI and Its Current and Future Applications for Lawyers and Utilities (CCPUC Annual Meeting, May 2024)

• Speaker, Recent Developments in Legal Ethics and Professional Conduct—What You Need to Know (COPRAC 27th Annual Statewide Ethics Symposium, April 2024)

• Speaker, Proposed and Recent Changes to the California Rules of Professional Conduct:  Prohibited Incivility and Reporting Professional Misconduct (California Political Attorneys Association, September 2023)

• Speaker, Recent Developments in Legal Ethics and Professional Conduct–What You Need to Know (COPRAC 26th Annual Statewide Ethics Symposium, April 2023)

• Speaker, Recent Developments in Legal Ethics and Professional Conduct–What You Need to Know (COPRAC 25th Annual Statewide Ethics Symposium, April 2022)

• Moderator, Lawyer Impairment: Risks & Responsibilities (COPRAC 24th Annual Statewide Ethics Symposium, April 2021)

• Speaker, Ethical Issues in Employment Law (National Business Institute (NBI) California Employment Law Fundamentals, December 2019)

• Author, Interviewing Employees of a Represented Entity:  Who is Off-Limits? (Defense Research Institute (DRI), Professionalism Perspectives, November 2019)

• Speaker, Attorney Ethics Update:  New and Proposed Rules and Key Opinions (NBI, May 2019)

• Speaker, The Top 10 Ethics Rule Changes That May Affect Your Practice (Marin County Bar Association, Labor and Employment Brown Bag Series, March 2019)

• Speaker, I’m Just Here for the Ethics Credits:  Discussing the New California Rules of Professional Conduct and the CPUC’s Rule 1.1 (CCPUC and WIPU, January 2019)

• Author, Ethical Walls Are Not a Panacea for Imputation of Conflicts Under New Ethics Rules (BASF Bulletin, January 2019)

• Speaker, The Top 10 Ethics Rule Changes That May Affect Your Practice (BASF, November 2018)

• Speaker, California’s New Rules of Professional Conduct: What You Need to Know (Marin County Women Lawyers (MCWL), October 2018)

• Speaker, War and Peace (and Settlement): An Exploration of the CPUC Settlement Process (CCPUC Young Utility Lawyers Committee, July 2018)

• Speaker, How to Use Ethics as a Sword and Shield (BASF, January 2018)

• Co-Author, Recent Developments on Professional Responsibility and the Attorney- Client Privilege (Practising Law Institute (PLI) California MCLE Marathon, September 2017)

• Speaker, Data Privacy for Lawyers (MCWL, October 2016)

• Speaker, Privacy Best Practices for Lawyers: What Every Law Practice Needs to Know About Privacy Law (Law Offices of Diana Maier Lunchtime Legal Chat, January 2016)

• Author, Attorney-Client Billing Statements Are Protected by Attorney-Client Privilege Regardless of Whether They Contain Legal Opinions or Advice (BASF Bulletin, July 2015)

• Speaker, Ethics in Social Media and Information Technology (Contra Costa County Bar Association (CCBA) 20th Annual MCLE Spectacular, November 2014)

• Speaker, Human Resource Law:  What You Need to Know Now, Workplace Behavior and Privacy Issues, (NBI, May 2014)

• Speaker, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Professional Responsibility Implications for Law Firms (BASF Special Credits Festival, December 2013)

• Author, Ethical Guidelines for Practicing in a Virtual Law Office (Contra Costa Lawyer Magazine, May 2013)

• Speaker, Recent Developments for Professional Responsibility Lawyers (Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL) Annual Meeting, August 2012)