Attorneys

Susan E. Coleman is a partner at Burke, Williams & Sorensen LLP with over 17 years litigation experience. Ms. Coleman worked for the Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, for over 13 years.  For the last three years, Ms. Coleman has represented various public entities such as the cities of Alhambra, Inglewood, Los Angeles, Colton, Beaumont; the counties of San Bernardino and Los Angeles; agencies of the State of California; and the Regents of the University of California, and those entities’ individual employees.  Because of this history defending governmental entities and their employees, she has a strong background in tort litigation, constitutional law/civil rights litigation, and premises liability.

Ms. Coleman has defended officials and individuals in over 20 civil jury trials in federal and state courts throughout California, with very successful results. These trials include claims of wrongful death, negligence, excessive force, retaliation, failure to summon medical care, and various other tort and constitutional issues.  Ms. Coleman is an associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).

Ms. Coleman also has extensive experience with class action litigation, including several class actions on behalf of the California Department of Corrections.  Ms. Coleman has defeated class certification motions in three separate matters in the last two years.  She also represented the Board of Parole Hearings in a lengthy bench trial involving the Americans with Disabilities Act (Armstrong v. Davis).

During law school, Ms. Coleman served as Articles Editor for the Santa Clara Law Review.  In addition, she held a clerkship for the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District in San Francisco for Justice Jerome Smith.  After obtaining her Juris Doctorate and while working as an attorney, Ms. Coleman attended San Francisco State University’s Master’s in Tax program from 1994 through 1996.