Emily S. McGrath

PRACTICE AREAS:

• Employment Discrimination Law
• Employment law
• Sexual Harassment
• Wrongful Termination Law
• Family and Medical Leave Claims
• Defamation

Biography

Emily McGrath exclusively represents employees in trials and appeals, arbitrations, and negotiations against their employers. Since joining Barbara and Therese Lawless in 2013, Emily has fought on behalf of hundreds of clients. She is committed to providing compassionate counsel to those navigating a complicated legal system during a difficult period in their lives.

Emily was selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star (an honor awarded to no more than 2.5 percent of attorneys in California) each year from 2018 through 2023, and has since been named to the Super Lawyers list every year since 2024. In addition, she is a member of the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association and an active member of the San Francisco Bar Association, where she previously served on the Executive Committees for the Litigation and Solo/Small Firm sections of the Barristers Club.  In 2026, the San Francisco Legal Professionals Association awarded with their Philanthropy Award in recognition for her commitment to educating the legal community through her many speaking engagements and publications.

Before beginning her career as an employment litigator, Emily was a misdemeanor trial attorney at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. Emily attended law school at University of California, Hastings College of the Law. While there, she served as an Executive Editor for the International and Comparative Law Review, a Constitutional Law teaching assistant, and a research assistant. Emily also externed at the Northern District of California federal court and published an article on surrogacy contract regulations during her third year.

Before law school, Emily graduated from Princeton University with degrees in Intellectual & Cultural History, Neuroscience, and French. She worked as a news writer for the Daily Princetonian, an Emergency Medical Technician in a nearby town in New Jersey, and a Project Manager for an Engineers Without Borders team in Ethiopia. After finishing college, Emily worked as a translator and communications officer with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the year preceding law school.

Past Positions

• San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, Misdemeanor Attorney, 2013
• Center for Genetics and Society, Staff Associate, 2011 to 2012
• Chambers of Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero, Extern, 2011
• Alameda County Superior Court, Pro Se Department, 2010

Education

• University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings), San Francisco, California
  • J.D. – 2012
  • Honors: Appellate Advocacy Best Oralist, Nominee
  • Honors: Moot Court Best Brief, Honorable Mention
  • Honors: Pro Bono Society, Member
• Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
  • B.A. – 2008
  • Honors: Cum Laude
  • Honors: Arthur Liman Public Interest Law Fellow
  • Honors: Recipient of the Stone/Davis Prize for History Thesis Research

Bar Admissions

• California, 2013

Professional Associations

• Bar Association of San Francisco
• Lawyer’s Club of San Francisco Inn of Court
• San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association

Languages

• French