MEDINA ORTHWEIN LLP

Medina Orthwein LLP was founded by Felicia Medina and Jennifer Orthwein, two queer attorneys with a passion for social justice.  Using a broad gender and racial justice intersectional lens, Medina and Orthwein have combined their expertise to enforce and expand protections for those whose identities are most impacted by cultural bias and discrimination through individual and class action litigation. They specialize in employment discrimination, equal pay, sexual harassment, whistleblower protections, wage and hour, Title IX and civil rights for prisoners. 

Felicia Medina is a civil rights attorney whose practice has focused on individual and class action employment discrimination cases relating to race, gender, sexual orientation, and other protected classifications, as well as wage and hour collective actions. In the early part of her career, Medina stood out as a top litigator helping to secure the largest employment gender discrimination class action verdict in U.S. history. She quickly rose through the ranks from Associate to Managing Partner at Sanford Heisler, LLP’s San Francisco office, an office she opened, becoming one of the few queer women of color in a leadership position in a national firm.

Jennifer Orthwein’s civil rights career has been a blend of two professions – attorney and psychologist. She has been a staunch advocate for LGBTQ people through her work as a psychologist in the California prison and state hospital systems, as well as Senior Counsel for the Detention Project at Transgender Law Center.  She assisted in the representation of two California prisoners, Michelle-Lael Norsworthy and Shiloh Quine. These cases were the impetus for access to gender affirming surgery and expression for transgender and gender variant people in California prisons.

Medina Orthwein LLP strives to ensure the voices and rights of those most impacted by inequity are heard and can fight power with power.