Kimberly Gates Johnson received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Journalism and minoring in French. Before embarking on her legal career, Ms. Johnson enjoyed a lengthy career in radio, online, direct mail and print advertising, working in Houston, Austin and San Francisco. Following her advertising career, Ms. Johnson attended Santa Clara University School of Law as a multiple scholarship recipient, graduating with her juris doctor degree and an intellectual property certificate from the nation’s fourth-ranked intellectual property program. Ms. Johnson also participated on the Journal of International Law. Ms. Johnson’s practice at Seven Hills LLP is focused on environmental law and advocacy. She also advises and represents clients in contract negotiations, business start-ups, non-profit compliance, corporate law and administrative proceedings. Since 2013, Ms. Johnson has successfully represented both individual and non-profit plaintiffs seeking to better the environment and public health through actions against companies and corporations, both domestic and international, violating the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, or Proposition 65, from the initial stages of client consultation and evaluation to the resolution of an action. Her experience in this area includes all stages of enforcement, including the initial client, toxicologist and expert consultation, issuance and service of the Notice of Violation, negotiating with companies and their counsel in furtherance of mutually agreeable injunctive and financial terms, litigation, discovery, opposition motions, ex parte appearances, settlement, and appearances before California courts on behalf of her clients. She also offers environmental compliance strategies. Prior to coming to Seven Hills LLP as a Partner, Ms. Johnson worked for an environmental law advocacy firm and operated her own private practice, Gates Johnson Law. Ms. Johnson is an active member of the California State Bar and the San Francisco Bar Association. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, reading, music, movies, going to the beach and getting outdoors with her family, friends and animals, traveling, and volunteering with SF Parks.
Laralei Paras comes to Seven Hills LLP with 20 years’ experience in environmental advocacy. Ms. Paras was introduced to the presence of toxins in consumer products, as a child, when her mother taught her to read cereal boxes for the disclosure of the additive BHT in packaging and to avoid canned foods sealed with lead. Ms. Paras became aware of chemicals leaching from plastic containers in the 1980’s after storing freshly baked cookies in a plastic container overnight and tasting the difference the next day. The impact of the passage of Proposition 65 (formally titled The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986) by direct voter initiative and a 63%–37% vote was the subject of one of Ms. Paras’ first college papers. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Conservation and Resources Studies from the College of Natural Resources at U.C. Berkeley, she earned her juris doctor and environmental law certificate at the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College ranked first in Environmental Law. During law school, she interned with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality enforcing the Clean Water Act applying factors to assess civil penalties and build the costs of environmental violations into the economic equation. Since 2002, her practice has concentrated on the enforcement of Proposition 65 on behalf of citizen enforcers and includes significant experience in enforcement actions including those involving decorated glassware, inter alia, the consolidated cases of Brimer v. ARC International, et al., Case No. CGC-03-418025, the trial of DiPirro v. J.C. Penney, Case No. CGC02-407150, and the multi-party settlement in Brimer v. The Boelter Companies, Case No. CGC-05-440811, phthalates in vinyl consumer products, benzophenone in sunscreen, and carcinogenic flame retardants in furniture products. Her experience in Proposition 65 litigation includes client consultation, investigation, expert consultation, written discovery, fact and expert depositions, settlement negotiations, written pre-trial and trial motions, trial briefs, oppositions to motions in state and appellate court, including summary judgment, dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction, intervention and court approval of settlements. Ms. Paras has shared her experience as a panelist in Compliance is Key – Prop 65 New Warning Regulations Create Challenges for All Companies Conducting Business in California presented through California Lawyers Association and The Basics of Prop 65 Counseling and Litigation presented through the San Francisco Bar Association. Ms. Paras currently serves as President of the Board of Mill Valley Scout Hall.
Rebecca M. Jackson was born in Cooperstown, New York and graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, majoring in Government and minoring in Philosophy. Ms. Jackson studied law at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia, where she was the recipient of a Graduate Research Fellowship and public service funding award. She worked as a professorial research assistant during her three years of law school, including on the Capital Jury Project, supported by the National Science Foundation. With her third-year practice certificate, Ms. Jackson volunteered as a legal intern at a domestic violence clinic in Williamsburg and worked for Legal Services of Eastern Virginia, serving economically disadvantaged members of the community. After moving to San Francisco, Ms. Jackson volunteered with the Family Law Facilitator at San Francisco Superior Court. She joined a mid-size law firm in San Francisco as a litigation associate, where she managed a large caseload of products liability cases from intake through resolution, including fact and expert witness depositions, motion practice, and courtroom advocacy. Ms. Jackson took an extended break to raise her children, during which time she also volunteered extensively at her local public schools and in her community. She returned to law in 2019, assisting an intellectual property startup. Ms. Jackson joined Seven Hills in February 2021. She focuses on California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (“Proposition 65”) representing non-profit advocacy organizations. She believes in the public benefit of bringing enforcement actions to incentivize businesses to reformulate their products to remove harmful chemicals or provide warnings to consumers so they can make informed choices about the goods they bring into their homes. She has always been passionate about protecting the environment, and, since becoming a mother, finding ways to avoid toxic chemicals in everyday products. Ms. Jackson is a member of the American Bar Association and enjoys hiking, playing guitar, genealogy, and her pug, Buster.
KIMBERLY GATES JOHNSON ESQ.
LARALEI PARAS ESQ.
