John F. Baum is a partner in Hirschfeld Kraemer's San Francisco office. His focus is in labor and employment law litigation and counseling on behalf of private and public employers as well as educational institutions.
Baum represents employers in wrongful discharge and discrimination disputes before federal and state courts and government agencies. He also counsels clients on a variety of issues impacting the employer-employee relationship, including employee discipline and termination, personnel policies, workplace privacy and issues unique to educational institutions; he offers a special expertise in the areas of compliance with disability laws and reasonable accommodation.
Baum regularly presents in-house management training on all areas of labor and employment law. He frequently lectures on employment topics before professional organizations, attorneys and business groups.
Baum also has presented numerous training sessions on effectively handling discrimination and harassment complaints through an internal investigation. Mr. Baum was the lead attorney in successfully arguing and briefing Kaiser vs. Superior Court, (1998) 66 Cal. App. 4th 1217, where the attorney-client privilege intersected with an organization’s internal investigation process.
He received his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and his A.B. from Stanford University. Mr. Baum has been named one of Northern California's "Super Lawyers" every year from 2008 to the present.
Baum’s firm, Hirschfeld Kraemer, advises and assists private and public employers of all sizes on issues and claims arising out of the employer-employee relationship and on union-related matters. Its attorneys regularly handle litigation involving wrongful termination, discrimination and sexual harassment, and counsel companies on discipline and discharge, workplace privacy, drug abuse and testing, safety, personnel policies, wage and hour matters, and other employment-related issues. As part of their “preventive” practice, the firm’s attorneys present training seminars on how to manage within the law and avoid claims which can lead to potentially costly litigation.