Simao J. Avila J.D. ’83 is Senior Counsel, Legal & Government Relations for Kaiser Permanente. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Avila was labor and employment counsel for the Office of General Counsel, University of California. He was previously a partner with Littler Mendelson where he represented private and public sector clients on nearly all aspects of employment and labor law. He lecturers at Leland Stanford University, Law School (Gould Center) and at University of California – Boalt Hall on negotiations and ADR. He was a comments editor for Santa Clara Law Review at Santa Clara University, which published an article he authored, entitled “The Erosion of the Exclusionary Rule.” He has presented on various subjects at professional conferences and speaks regularly on pertinent labor and employment issues dealing with the complexities of today’s diverse work force. To assist employers with one of those difficult contemporary challenges, while at Littler Mendelson, he co-authored a handbook entitled Terror and Violence in the Workplace. Avila is also co-author in A Litigator’s Guide to Effective Use of ADR in California (CEB, 2005).