Lisa Mariko Watanabe

I had a an amazing unbelievable interaction with Lisa Watanabe. I am a Professor at UCLA and reached out to Lisa for a university employment related matter. She responded promptly. She is knowledgeable, thorough, empathetic and articulate. She easily understood the nuances of the issue and gave soun...d and sincere advice. I rate her as outstanding and recommend her with the highest enthusiasm. (Name withheld for Confidentiality)

I recently hired Lisa for my wrongful termination case. From the beginning and all the way thru to getting my settlement check she had me in the loop. There was never a time when I was wondering "where are we at in the case". Lisa and Rise Law Firm provided me with a smooth and speedy path to clos...ure and the funds to jumpstart my plan B. Thanks Lisa and Rise Law Firm.

Dealing with lawsuits can be so tough but when you have the opportunity to work with people who truly care about you and your well-being it doesn't have to be as difficult. Lisa made me feel comfortable and immensely cared for during the entire process. She is warm, kind, communicative and thorough. ...I appreciate her and the RISE team beyond words.

There are not words to express the level of gratitude I have for Lisa. I was in horrible place physically and emotionally and no one would help me. I reached out to other attorneys and although they said that there was clear and obvious harassment and discrimination, they also said it wasn't the st...rongest case. Basically, they didn't want to deal with going against a world wide company and they wanted an easy case that required little if any effort. I was feeling alone,hopeless and powerless all over again. Then...I found Lisa on YELP, her reviews were amazing almost too good to be true BUT they were all true, Even though I already felt defeated and thought she would not take my case (like everyone else) I still called and I am so incredibly happy and thankful that i did. I emailed her a timeline of everything I had been through and we set up a meeting. Lisa was compassionate, attentive and so sharp: her wheels are always turing and she remembers EVERYTHING. When speaking with Lisa her knowledge of the employment law is extremely impressive to say the least. She has such a keen ability to spot violations of employee laws like no other. I met with some other attorney, very well know "on the news" sort of places and they missed so much that Lisa spotted instantly-this made my case that much stronger. She is not one of those attorney's in for a quick buck and just trying get anyone to retain her. While meeting with her, I had no doubt I wanted her to represent me and when she said she would like to take on my case I wanted to jump and do a little happy dance BUT being the good person she is, she told me she wanted me to think about it, call around and be comfortable and secure in my decision. At that point I could not imagine even considering anyone else to handle my case, I trusted her implicitly and still do. Within 3 weeks the lawsuit had been filed and served. I was blown away at the level of detail and specifics, I almost felt sorry for my employer...almost. Once being served the lawsuits of all lawsuits, opposing counsel contacting her immediately and stated they wanted to settle. Lisa stated that we needed a mediation date as soon as possible for her clients (me) well being and in less than 2 months we went to mediation and settled. Although always the professional, I felt like she was a friend as well, she genuinely cared what I had gone through and was sympathetic and understanding throughout the entire process. She kept me informed the entire time and made sure I was fully prepared. I have not doubt that if not for Lisa's fight and determination, I would not have received the monetary compensation I did and she got me every last penny possible at that...of this I am 100% sure. I am so enormously grateful to Lisa, not just for the settlement amount but for being the only person who stood by my side and fought for me. I felt validated, heard and vindicated. I cannot say enough good things about Lisa, because of her, I was no longer the victim, I took on this huge company and I won...well we won.

About a year and a half ago a drunk driver rear ended me while I was riding a motorcycle, breaking my left leg in 2 places. I contacted Lisa and her team the following morning from the hospital and 2 days later she and Elliot Rushovich paid a house call at my apartment to explain the process moving f...orward. This was BEFORE I signed on the dotted line and formally hired them as my attorneys. Talk about personal service. Anyway, because of red tape and bureaucratic nonsense with Medi-Cal the process of getting my settlement took about twice as long as it would have if I'd had private medical insurance, but Lisa kept me up to date the whole way along as to where we were in the process, and made sure that in the end I got the entirety of the perpetrator's policy. My injury made life difficult to say the least- the last thing I needed was legal anxiety. Lisa and her team did everything they could to put me at ease. Kinda funny, but she definitely played therapist a little bit in addition to attorney. Can't recommend her enough.