Meet Nancy

– Attorney and AWI Certificate Holder

Nancy Bornn’s Bio

Nancy Bornn is an attorney workplace investigator, expert witness, and trainer in EEO matters.  In over a decade of neutral work Ms. Bornn has conducted hundreds of workplace investigations for private and public employers, involving all types of employment-related claims.  She is a qualified expert witness on HR matters including the adequacy of workplace investigations and the interactive process for disability accommodations.  She is an Association of Workplace Investigators Certificate Holder. Ms. Bornn, a qualified trainer for the mandatory anti-harassment training required by the Fair Employment and Housing Act, has trained managers and non-supervisory staff, and has coached individual employees regarding anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, and anti-bullying matters.

Before centering her practice on neutral work, Ms. Bornn’s vast legal experience involved representing employees and employers in a wide range of employment issues and forums. This spectrum of expertise informs her work, enabling Ms. Bornn to bring a unique perspective and invaluable skill set to her neutral work for clients.  Ms. Bornn began the practice of law handling complex business litigation and representing employers at Levine, Krom & Unger, a Beverly Hills firm. After six years in private practice Ms. Bornn was tapped in 1983 to serve as in-house counsel for the producers of a major motion picture entitled, “Lone Wolf McQuade.”

After leaving the motion picture production company, in 1984, during lunch with a friend, Ms. Bornn learned of a mutual acquaintance who had quit her job after an attempted rape by her boss in his limousine.  That conversation led to Ms. Bornn’s first sexual harassment and attempted rape case.  The matter ended quickly in a then-unheard-of six figure settlement, which launched her career as a leader in the field of workplace sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.

Following this milestone, Ms. Bornn founded her own law firm, focusing her practice on employment-related issues.  For the next two decades, she represented employees in various forums, including civil courts, arbitrations, and mediations.  At the same time, she counseled employers on how to prevent, correct, and remedy discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the workplace.  In 2004, Ms. Bornn wrote a legal treatise on sexual harassment, entitled “Representing California Sexual Harassment Plaintiffs,” published by James Publishing Company.

Between 1984 and 2007 Ms. Bornn served in leadership roles in various employment related bar organizations.  She became the President of the California Employment Lawyers Association, a statewide organization of lawyers representing primarily employees.  She served as a Governor on the Board of Governors for the National Association of Lawyers Association, a nationwide organization of lawyers representing primarily employees.  She was elected and served as Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Section at a time when the organization was comprised of mostly management and labor lawyers.

In 2007 Ms. Bornn began to focus her law practice solely on neutral-oriented work.  She earned a mediator certification from the Straus Institute at Pepperdine University School of Law and was a member of the distinguished panel of arbitrators and mediators for the American Arbitration Association.  She volunteered on the Los Angeles Superior Court Arbitration panel, successfully resolving numerous diverse matters.

In 2009 Ms. Bornn became a Founding Director of the Board of the Association of Workplace Investigators, Inc. (AWI).  As part of her involvement in AWI Ms. Bornn has trained workplace investigators at AWI’s week-long Institutes from 2012 to the present. Currently, she serves on the Certification Committee that formulates the Institutes’ training curriculum and testing.  Ms. Bornn also served on the Best Practices Committee that formed AWI’s workplace investigation principles.  She is a Sustaining Member of AWI.

Ms. Bornn has received numerous awards and has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer and a Best Lawyer in America for over two decades.  She has published numerous articles about and has been a frequent speaker on workplace investigations, on serving as an expert witness for investigation, and on other HR practice matters. News outlets often call upon Ms. Bornn for commentary relating to workplace investigations and sexual harassment matters.

Ms. Bornn received an A.A. degree from the State University of New York, Farmingdale.  She received her J.D. from Whittier College School of Law. Ms. Bornn was born and raised in Manhattan/New York, and since that time has spent the majority of her life living in various coastal towns in California.

Professional Associations

  • Former Member of Board of Governors of The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL) (2007-2015) ; Former member of CLEL Board of Governors Credentials Committee (2011-2015) ; and current Chair of CLEL 9th Circuit S. Regional Committee (2019-present)
  • Former Board Member and Current Sustaining Member of Association of Workplace Investigators, Inc. (AWI) (2009-present)
  • AWI-CH (AWI Certificate Holder as of 2017) program accredited by ANSI; Member of AWI Institute Committee (2012-2020); Member of AWI Publications and Best Practices Committees of AWI (2009-2013); Member of AWI Institute Credentials Committee (2012-present); Full-time and Part-time Faculty Member of AWI Institute (2012-present)
  • Member of Professionals in Human Resources Association (PIHRA) (2021-present)
  • Member of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) (2009-present)
  • Title IX Investigator Training Certification from Association of Title IX Admi11istrators (March 2015) and from T9Masters (2016)
  • Former Chair (2005-2006) of the Labor & Employment Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Associatio11 (LACBA L&E Section); Member LACBA L&E Section (1988-present)
  • Former Chair (1997-1999) of the California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA) and Former Advisory Council member, CELA (2004-2009)
  • Former Executive Board member of the National Employment Lawyers

Teachings

From 1988 to 2006, Ms. Bornn gave the California Annual Updates on Employment Law for the Continuing Education of the Bar. Since 2009, Ms. Bornn has focused her teachings on Human Resource Practices, including how to properly conduct workplace investigations, how to properly engage in the interactive process for disability accommodations, and other related human resource compliance issues.

Recent Teachings Presented by Ms. Bornn at:

  • AWI Webinar (Dec 2020)
  • AWI Institute, Fulltime Faculty 2012 and 2013, 2018; Part-time Faulty 2014-present
  • Association of Workplace Investigators Annual Conferences (Nov. 2011 and Sept. 2019)
  • Calif. Lawyers Association Labor & Employment Law Section, Webinar (Dec. 2019 and March 2021)
  • National Employment Lawyers Association Annual Conference (June 2016)
  • Los Angeles County Bar Labor & Employment Section Seminar (June 2016)
  • American Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section Annual Conference (November 2013)
  • National Employment Lawyers Association Annual Conference (June 2012)

Articles & Publications

2019

Breaking Through: How Investigators Balance the Competing Priorities of Claimant and Employer Counsel

AWI Annual Conference (2019)

2013

Workplace Investigations: Getting to the Bottom of Complex Matters Without Falling Into a Trap

ABA L&E 7th Annual Conference (2013)

2011

Expert Testimony on Investigations by the Experts

co-author (AWI Quarterly November)

2011

Workplace Harassment Law

(BNA 2011) Lindemann & Kadue, contributing author

2011

Advanced Issues in Workplace Investigations

ERTSC Annual Conference 2011

2010

Practice Pointers for Workplace Investigations.pdf

By Nancy Bornn and Debra L. Reilly (SHRM 2010; CAOWI Quarterly January 2010)

2010

Workplace Investigations On Trial: How Defendants Conduct Bulletproof Investigations And How Plaintiffs Shoot Them Down

(L&E LACBA November 2010), AWI Annual Conference, and (Feb 2010), LACBA L&E Section Symposium

2009

Now What? Managing Performance in the Workplace in the Midst of a Discrimination Claim

(EEOC Institute September 2009), EEOC Training Institute.

2009

Practical Pointers on Employer Investigations

(OCBA June 2009), Orange County Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section

2007

Representing California Sexual Harassment Plaintiffs

(James Publishing 2004), updated in part in 2007 (Nancy Bornn A Law Corporation 2007).

*These articles are available for general information only. The information presented
in these articles should not be construed to be formal legal advice, nor the formation of a lawyer / client relationship.

Please Contact Nancy Bornn At Your Convenience With Any Inquiries About Her Services.

Get Started Today

Get started today by calling Nancy at 424-227-9805
or email her at [email protected]

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