Why I love what I do...

"I love a challenge. Practicing law gives me the opportunity to come up with real solutions to my clients' problems. I see every case as a potentially high-stakes chess game - and nothing is more gratifying than saying 'Checkmate!' by crafting an effective settlement strategy, winning a dispositive motion, or defensing a case at trial."

Professional Experience

Lara Villarreal Hutner is the founding Partner of Villarreal Hutner PC. Lara represents national retailers, manufacturers, financial institutions, and insurance providers, including Fortune 10 Companies, in a variety of employment-related matters, including litigation through trial.

Lara has successfully defended employers in California and national wage and hour class actions involving alleged misclassification under the managerial, outside sales, and motor carrier exemptions, overtime calculations at more than one rate of pay, meal and rest periods, on-call issues, travel time issues, vacation forfeiture, expense reimbursement, working off the clock, and uniform maintenance issues.

Professional Qualifications and Activities

Prior to founding Villarreal Hutner PC, Lara represented Fortune 100 clients in employment matters at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP. Lara also served as law clerk to the Honorable Stewart A. Newblatt of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan.

Lara is admitted to practice in all California Courts. She is a member of the California Minority Counsel Program, the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association, Queen's Bench, California Women Lawyers, and Phi Delta Phi. Lara also is a member of the San Francisco Bar Association and is the former Chair of the San Francisco Bar Association Barrister's Club Pre-Practice Committee.

Before Law School...

Lara is a published James Joyce scholar and was a Carnegie-Mellon Scholar at Yale University and a Rotary International Scholar at La Universidad Autónoma de México. Lara also can read and write Egyptian hieroglyphics.