Laura C. McHugh

Laura C. McHugh is a senior partner of Duggan McHugh Law Corporation in Sacramento, California, a WBENC Woman Owned Certified Business. With over 25 years of legal experience, Laura provides her clients with effective solutions to their workplace needs, whether it is an aggressive litigation defense to a hotly-contested employment dispute, or practical day-to-day guidance on workplace issues including discipline and discharge, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, leaves of absence, disability accommodation, wage and hour, prevailing wage, the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA), meal period and rest break compliance, or trade secrets and unfair competition issues. She is AV Preeminent Rated by Martindale Hubbell.

Laura has argued before the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal in cases that have resulted in precedential, published decisions. She also has served as a mediator and arbitrator in employment law disputes and hearings. 

During law school, Laura served as editor for the Santa Clara Law Review, and an extern for Justice Gerome Smith of the Third District Court of Appeal. She graduated magna cum laude from University of California at Santa Barbara, earning recognition for her thesis work through the senior honors program. 

Laura is admitted to practice before all California Courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, all U.S. District Courts in California, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She has appeared pro hac vice in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii and Arizona.

Highly active in her legal community, Laura serves as a Board Member on the Executive Committee and as chair of the Employment Law Section for the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada. She also serves on the Sacramento County Superior Court Presiding Judge Civil Law Advisory Committee. She is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Women Lawyers of Sacramento, and the Sacramento County Bar Association / Labor and Employment Law Section, and a founding member of WomenUp, an organization devoted to mentoring and inspiring professional women in the greater Sacramento area. She also serves on the Board for Foster Hope Sacramento.