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.
