Team
chris j. lee
founder | managing shareholder
Chris is the founding managing shareholder of Lee & Lee and has been a practicing attorney in California for 20 years.  He is a Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law by the State Bar of California and his work primarily involves sophisticated workers’ compensation litigation matters representing employers, insurance carriers, and third-party administrators across the full lifecycle of claims and litigation.
A substantial portion of Chris’s practice involved representing healthcare providers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including large hospital systems and multi-facility organizations. Working within that environment required navigating the unique legal and operational issues that arise in highly regulated workplaces where patient care, staffing needs, and legal compliance operate simultaneously.
Because healthcare employers operate continuously and depend on specialized staffing, claim and personnel decisions frequently carry operational consequences beyond the individual case. These matters frequently involve issues not typically present in other workplaces, including concurrent employment across facilities, on-call and shift-based scheduling structures, accommodation constraints tied to patient safety, and return-to-work determinations in safety-sensitive roles.
His experience includes matters involving HIPAA and medical privacy considerations within litigation and investigations, coordination with collective bargaining agreements and unionized workforces, and employment decisions affecting a wide range of positions — from environmental services and dietary staff to technicians, therapists, and nursing personnel.Â
Chris’s background in this environment informs his approach to evaluating exposure, structuring resolutions, and advising on workplace actions that must remain compliant with regulatory obligations while maintaining operational stability.Drawing on decades of litigation and advisory work, Chris provides strategic guidance on claim posture, evidentiary evaluation, settlement planning, and workplace risk management. He is particularly experienced in matters where medical-legal complexity, inconsistent factual records, or multi-system regulatory overlap make standard defense approaches ineffective.
Chris is known for applying a systems-level perspective to workplace disputes—helping clients understand not only the legal risks associated with individual claims, but also the operational, compliance, and long-term workforce impacts that flow from litigation and claim decisions.
In addition to legal advisory work, he conducts workplace investigations involving allegations of misconduct, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and other sensitive personnel matters. His investigations are grounded in a neutral, fact-driven approach focused on credibility assessment, thorough documentation, and clear, defensible findings.Â
His background in complex workplace litigation and cross-disciplinary employment issues shaped his ability to manage sensitive investigations involving multiple stakeholders and layered factual records. Â
English
Korean
University of San Francisco School of Law, J.D.
University of California, Irvine, B.A.
California
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
U.S. District Court, Central District of California
U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
christine c. lee (AWI-CH)
CO-founder | shareholder
Christine C. Lee is a California employment attorney with more than 20 years of experience and serves as Head of the Investigations Practice Group at Lee & Lee, A Professional Law Corporation.
Christine conducts independent workplace investigations for public agencies, public safety entities, nonprofit organizations, and private employers in response to complaints involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation, bullying, and other alleged employee misconduct. She is frequently retained to handle sensitive and high-stakes matters, including complaints involving senior leadership, where neutrality, discretion, and credibility are paramount.
Christine is particularly experienced in interviewing hostile, reluctant, and emotionally impacted witnesses. She approaches investigations with empathy, sensitivity, and professionalism, and applies trauma-informed interview strategies when addressing highly sensitive matters. Her approach is designed to foster candid participation while maintaining appropriate boundaries, procedural fairness, and the integrity of the investigative process. She brings a calm, measured, and respectful presence to complex workplace environments, which is especially important in matters involving fear of retaliation, power imbalances, or emotionally charged allegations.
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Her investigations are known for being thorough, impartial, and defensible, with careful attention to consistency, documentation, and compliance with applicable law and recognized best practices. Ms. Lee conducts investigations with an understanding that her work may later be subject to internal review, administrative scrutiny, or litigation, and she approaches each matter with the level of rigor necessary to withstand such challenges.
Christine is a certificate holder with the Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI) and an active member of AWI’s San Francisco Bay Area Local Circle. She conducts investigations in accordance with established investigative standards while remaining attentive to the human dynamics that often accompany workplace complaints.
In addition to her investigations practice, she advises employers on a wide range of labor and employment matters, including employee relations, workplace compliance, risk management, performance management, and employee separations. She works closely with organizational leadership and human resources professionals to provide clear, pragmatic guidance that supports sound decision-making and minimizes legal exposure.
Prior to opening her own practice in 2020, Christine represented both employers and employees in labor and employment law matters, including litigation and advisory work. Her experience working on both sides of the employment relationship provides her with a balanced perspective and valuable insight that informs both her investigative work and her employment counseling practice.
Outside of her legal practice, Christine enjoys CrossFit, traveling, and spending time with her husband and two children, who are active in athletics and the performing arts community in Marin County.
English
University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings College of the Law), J.D.
University of California, Los Angeles, B.A.
California
John j. parente
of counsel
John is one of California’s most respected workers’ compensation defense attorney and has been a practicing attorney in California for 49 years. He is a Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law by the State Bar of California. He currently has a small, specialized defense practice devoted to representing employers in complicated cases, including uninsured employer cases, employment discrimination and serious and willful cases. John also serves as a mediator and arbitrator on workers compensation matter.
John was the founding partner of Parente & Christopher, a boutique defense practice for more than 40 years. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, a national organization, a past chair of the Workers Compensation Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association and was President of the California Workers Compensation Defense Attorneys Association.Â
John has served as a lecturer to the California Self-Insurers Association, California Continuing Education of the Bar, and the American Bar Association Tort and Workers Compensation Section.
English
California