John S. Hong, Partner and Head of Employment Law

John brings over sixteen years of HR, employment, and workplace law experience to the firm, from advice, counsel, and training to class action litigation.

John most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer of Avellino, a biotech startup company in Silicon Valley, where he was responsible for Legal, HR, and Operations that spanned the U.S., Japan, Korea, and China. Prior to his time in-house, John was a shareholder at Littler Mendelson, the world’s largest management side labor & employment law firm. John combines this unique set of experiences in corporate executive leadership and law firm partnership to provide practical advice to his clients, spanning from publicly traded billion dollar companies to angel investor backed pre-revenue startups. For his efforts, John has been recognized as a Rising Star and Super Lawyer in Northern California by Super Lawyers Magazine.

John handles the Firm's employment and workplace law matters, including advice and counsel on issues related to human resources, employees relations, compensation, and company handbook policies, processes, and practices. John's specialty includes executive compensation, commission plans, leaves of absences, hiring, discipline, and the separation of employees. In addition to advice and counsel, John provides training and presentations on harassment/discrimination, leaves of absences, and wage and hour compliance. He also manages class action and single plaintiff employment litigation cases involving wage/hour, harassment, and discrimination claims.

John has also been active in championing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal community, having served in leadership positions in the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), the University of San Francisco School of Law Board of Governors, and the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California (KABANC).

  • Employment Training

    Employment Advice and Counsel

    Employment Litigation

  • J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law, 2007

    B.A., Davidson College, 1999

  • • Northern California Super Lawyers, 2023, 2024

    • Northern California Rising Stars List, Northern California Super Lawyers, 2016-2018

  • • USF School of Law: Member of the Board of Governors and the Labor and Employment Law Advisory Board

    • Bridging Education & Art Together (BEAT) Global 501(c)(3): Advisory Board Member

    • Minority Bar Exchange, Founding Member

    • National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), former Regional Governor and Member of the Board of Governors

    • Korean American Bar Association of Northern California (KABANC), former Board Member and President