San Jose, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/09/2015 --Berliner Cohen is pleased to announce the appointment of Roberta S. Hayashi to the Santa Clara County Superior Court bench. Before her appointment to the bench, Hayashi, 56, had been head of the employment law practice and a litigation partner at Berliner Cohen since 2006, and prior to that, from 1990 to 2000, and an associate from 1982 to 1989.

Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. made the appointment on December 12, 2014. Hayashi left the firm at the end of January 2015.

We make this announcement with mixed emotions," said Berliner Cohen Managing Partner Mark Makiewicz. "It's a well-deserved honor for Roberta and great reflection on the caliber of attorneys practicing law at our firm, but it is bittersweet for her partners and colleagues. Roberta has been with the firm for most of the past 33 years. She has been a great partner, a thoughtful and diligent attorney, and a friend to us all. We will miss her greatly."

Hayashi was a partner at Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman LLP from 2003 to 2005 and head of the employment law practice at Skjerven Morrill LLP from 2001 to 2003. She was president of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley in 2001 and of the Santa Clara County Bar Association in 1996. Hayashi earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Rene Navarro.

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Berliner Cohen is one of the largest and most respected law firms in San Jose, serving a diverse client list of private sector businesses and public agencies throughout Silicon Valley and the Central Valley. For more than 50 years, clients ranging from technology giants to municipalities have relied on their expertise in regulatory and business law.