Haeggquist & Eck, LLP

Focus and practice areas

This San Diego firm works on the side of employees, and workplace disputes make up most of its docket. The named practice areas cover sexual harassment, discrimination, workplace retaliation, and wrongful termination. The firm also takes sexual assault claims and class action litigation. Alreen Haeggquist founded it in 2008 to represent women who had faced wrongs at work, and that purpose still guides the caseload.

Each of these areas covers a distinct kind of workplace harm. Sexual harassment and discrimination claims turn on how a worker was treated because of a protected characteristic or unwanted conduct. Retaliation claims focus on what an employer did after a worker complained or reported a problem. Wrongful termination brings those threads together when the job loss itself is the alleged wrong. The firm names all four areas, which tells a client the intake covers the full arc of an employment dispute.

Group claims run alongside the individual employment matters. The firm has acted as class counsel in consumer fraud litigation, so its work reaches past the single-plaintiff case into claims brought for many people at once. That mix asks for different skills, and the partners' backgrounds cover both sides of it.

The firm keeps two offices, one in San Diego and one in Los Angeles. Both handle California employment and consumer law. The Los Angeles office extends the firm's reach into the second major legal market in the state.

How the team is built

Six attorneys appear on the firm's roster, and its founder leads it. Alreen Haeggquist is the Managing Partner and started the firm in 2008. She built it to represent women who had faced wrongs at work. She also wrote a book, Fired Up: Fueling Triumph From Trauma, which links her legal practice to the personal side of representing survivors.

Amber Eck is a partner and trial attorney with 26 years in practice. She earned her J.D. at Boston University School of Law and has tried cases in state and federal court as lead trial attorney. Her record includes multiple six- and seven-figure settlements for employees, consumers, and shareholders.

Aaron Olsen, another partner, splits his work between the employment law and complex consumer litigation departments. He represents employees in sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination matters, and consumers in class action consumer protection cases. He was co-lead counsel in class action suits, among them consumer fraud actions.

Jenna Rangel, also a partner, handles wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and wage and hour claims for employees. She graduated from California Western School of Law in 2010. She also holds a business administration and marketing degree from California State University, Chico.

The associate attorneys

Anna Schwartz earned her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2022, and her work centers on plaintiff-side employment litigation. Allison Gill Sanford earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2019. Before joining the firm she worked as a Staff Attorney and Law Clerk at the California Court of Appeal, and as an EJW Fellow and Staff Attorney at Free to Thrive. Her practice covers employment and labor, civil rights, and sexual harassment matters.

As a reviewer, I read the range of law schools and prior public-interest roles as a sign the firm draws its lawyers from varied backgrounds.

What the record shows

The most public result comes from the class action against Donald Trump and Trump University. Amber Eck was co-lead counsel, and the consumer fraud case settled for $25 million in 2016. That figure is a matter of public record, and it gives the firm a concrete large-scale outcome to point to.

The firm has also brought claims against large California employers and companies, among them Kaiser Permanente, Trader Joe's, and Sharp Healthcare. These names appear on the firm's own pages as opponents it has taken on for plaintiffs. Suing organizations of that size calls for the class action and trial experience the partners describe.

In my opinion, a firm that lists specific corporate opponents and a named settlement figure gives a reader more to verify than one that speaks only in general terms. Amber Eck's trial history in both court systems adds weight to that record.

How the firm works with clients

The firm describes itself as a trauma-informed practice. It employs a survivor advocate who supports clients and helps train staff. That role is uncommon in a plaintiff-side employment firm, and it fits the kind of cases the team takes on.

Trauma-informed practice means the firm structures client contact around the reality that many of these clients have lived through the events at the center of their case. The survivor advocate on staff supports clients through that process and coaches the legal team on it. For sexual harassment and assault matters, that approach shapes how interviews and case preparation happen.

Caseload is kept small on purpose. Each attorney carries about 15 cases at a time, which points to closer attention per client. For someone weighing a sexual harassment or assault claim, that structure matters, because those cases often move slowly and need sustained work.

How these claims usually move

Employment claims in California often begin with an administrative step. A worker typically files a complaint with a state agency, and the agency issues a right-to-sue notice before a lawsuit can proceed. From there the matter enters civil litigation, with discovery, depositions, and mediation ahead of any trial date. Class actions follow a longer road. A judge first decides whether the group of plaintiffs can proceed together, a stage called certification, and only then does the case move toward settlement or trial. This general path explains why a small caseload and trial-ready attorneys line up with the work the firm names.

Ownership and community work

Haeggquist & Eck is a women-owned firm, and its founder built it around representing women in the workplace. That ownership and origin are stated plainly on the firm's site. The founding story matches the practice areas the firm lists.

The team also works outside the courtroom. Attorneys sit on legal association committees, volunteer with non-profits, and give "Know Your Rights" presentations. The firm donates a portion of its profits to local non-profit organizations.