SARAH J. BANOLA is a partner in the Litigation Department at Cooper, White & Cooper LLP's San Francisco office. She concentrates her practice in the areas of professional responsibility, regulatory law and employment law. Ms. Banola 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, disqualification motions, and law firm break-ups. 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, harassment, and wage and hour violations. Ms. Banola also counsels 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 is a contributing editor to the professional responsibility chapter of the California Practice Guide on Employment Litigation and the legal malpractice chapter of the California Practice Guide on Claims and Defenses, published by the Rutter Group. Ms. Banola is the immediate past chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco's Legal Ethics Committee, and currently serves as its Legal Ethics Corner editor. She earned her B.A. degree from Grinnell College and her J.D. degree, with honors, from Rutgers School of Law-Newark and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.