Judge Diane Ritchie

Diane Ritchie is an experienced and highly accomplished civil and criminal law attorney. She has served as co-counsel in cases that gained national attention and has accumulated an impressive record of success, especially in employment law. Her cases include employment cases, in the areas of discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and wage and hour dispute; other civil cases in the areas of personal injury and landlord tenant; and criminal cases, as a Deputy District Attorney. Since 1997, she manages her own firm, Diane Ritchie & Associates, at 480 North First Street in San Jose, California, 95112. Prospective clients can reach her office at 408-297-7171. She has handled more than a hundred jury and bench trials and more than 1,000 cases overall. Diane Ritchie is a trained mediator with more than eighty hours of mediation training, including several advanced courses. As a mediator for the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, she had the highest settlement rate in the state. She is also a successful private mediator. She taught in clinical programs for law schools and employment-law courses at colleges. In addition, she provided training through the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and for local companies. Diane Ritchie has worked in the nonprofit sector, in government, and in private practice, concentrating mainly on representing underrepresented individuals who do not have adequate access to the legal system because of poverty, disability, or age. Prior to opening her own practice, Diane Ritchie served as a Deputy District Attorney for Santa Clara County and worked in the Law Office of Harry Margolis and the Law Office of Steven W. Valdes. She was a Partner at Employment Rights Attorneys. Diane Ritchie is a member of Consumer Attorneys of California and the California and National Employment Lawyers Associations.