Kirkwood, Teri
Teri Kirkwood is Of Counsel at Fortis LLP and is an experienced litigator and mediator.
Teri is a seasoned litigator with over twenty-five years’ experience representing a variety of clients in employment litigation in state and federal courts, with trial and arbitration experience. Prior to joining Fortis LP, Teri was most recently a Senior Attorney with the international law firm of Morgan Lewis, LLP (2007-2019) in the award-winning Labor and Employment Practice Group where her practice focused on representing clients against claims involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and reasonable accommodation.
Teri has represented clients in all aspects of employment defense litigation from the pleading stage through mediation and arbitration and trial. She plans and conducts all aspects of discovery, including taking crucial plaintiff’s and expert witness depositions, and has successfully obtained summary judgment for clients under challenging factual circumstances. She has also provided advice and counsel for clients as well as representation before various administrative agencies. She has conducted internal investigations regarding claims of harassment, whistleblowing, retaliation, and wrongful termination.
Before joining Morgan Lewis, Teri was an attorney mediator focusing on employment disputes. Prior to that, she was a partner in a boutique law firm, Wilion, Kirkwood, Hoffman, & Deane, LLP (formerly Wilion, Kirkwood & Kessler, LLP), where she represented homeowners associations as well as represented non-profit organizations at both the trial and appellate level in employment matters, conducted internal investigations regarding employment claims of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination, and provided counseling and advice to clients on various employment issues, including providing reasonable accommodations to employees, leaves of absence, terminations of high level executives, investigations of harassment and discrimination, and policies and procedures.
Teri is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in California, the US District Court Central District, the US District Court Eastern District, and the US District Court Southern District.
Teri received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Pitzer College, in Claremont, California.