Salina Isaq

• Salina Isaq is an Associate attorney at Valerian Law, where she represents employees in negotiations and litigation in state and federal court and alternative dispute resolution forums.
• Salina previously worked as the managing attorney at Equal Rights Advocates (“ERA”) in the Advice & Counseling Program where she provided advice and representation to students and workers across the country who experienced gender-based discrimination or harassment. While at ERA she served as the lead drafter in an amicus brief advocating for class certification and dignified working conditions for pregnant and lactating dockworkers in the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, successfully negotiated the resolution of a Native American student’s complaint of repeated sexual and racial violence on her college campus, and led the research efforts to pioneer legal solutions to novel gender-based violence issues such as the nonconsensual distribution of AI deepfakes through Berkeley Law’s Survivor Advocacy Project. Salina started her attorney career at Levy Vinick Burrell Hyams, LLP, a plaintiff-side employment law firm, where she represented California workers experiencing discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination. She continued her work in plaintiff’s side employment law at Legal Aid at Work, representing workers experiencing pregnancy and lactation discrimination, denial of paid family leave, and other forms of protected leave on the Work & Family team. During this time, she assisted in CRD mediations, filing complaints with the EEOC, and working on family-friendly workplace bills such as AB 518 (expanding access to leave in California for chosen families).

Salina’s experience working with diverse individuals and communities, and her familiarity with Critical Race Theory and Black Feminist Theory, inform her legal advocacy and approach to workplace harms. She maintains a particular sensitivity to the needs of women, nonbinary, and transgender workers navigating intersectional harm.