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)

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.

I am forever grateful to Lisa and her partner Eliot for their expertise. Lisa took time to really understand the multiple issues I had with a recent employer, synthesize the story into coherent claims, and obtain a settlement for me that has made me feel at peace with my bad experience and allowed ...me to move past it with clarity, relief, and optimism. Lisa was extremely available and attentive throughout the process. She is a consummate professional.

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.