Alreen Haeggquist

Bio

Alreen Haeggquist is dedicated to representing employees who have been wrongfully terminated, harassed, and discriminated against at work. Over the past 20 years, she has recovered millions of dollars for her clients in cases involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wage theft. She founded Haeggquist & Eck in 2008 and serves as the firm’s managing partner.

Alreen’s passion for representing employees started at a very early age.  Her parents immigrated to the United States to create a better life for their family, and watching them work tirelessly to provide her with every opportunity informed her unwavering commitment to advancing human rights and giving a voice to the underrepresented. Today, the overwhelming majority of Alreen’s clients are women who have suffered egregious wrongs at the hands of their employers. No defendant is too large or powerful for her to tackle: she has recently represented plaintiffs in employment claims against such major corporations as Trader Joe’s, Sharp Healthcare, Wyndham, Kaiser Permanente, and the Grand Del Mar, and government entities like the County of San Diego, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, and the Orange County Fire Authority.

In 2021, Alreen successfully represented a San Diego Sheriff’s Department secretary at trial in a sexual harassment case against the department and its former assistant sheriff, and her 2017 jury trial verdict in a novel disability discrimination case against Kaiser Permanente was awarded one of the Top 50 Employment Verdicts in California. In 2018 alone, Alreen represented a female scientist in a well-publicized gender discrimination case against The Salk Institute, which ended with a confidential settlement shortly before trial.  That same year, she also secured a confidential settlement on behalf of an employee of Jollibee, a national fast-food chain, in a case involving claims of sexual harassment, which after the motion for fees, totaled over $1.2 million.

Alreen also served as class counsel in the high-profile consumer fraud litigation against presidential contender Donald Trump and Trump University, which settled in November 2016 for $25 million.  The settlement was deemed one of California’s Top 50 Class Action Settlements in 2016. For their seven years of work in the case, Alreen and her partners took no fees or costs.

Alreen has been named a San Diego Super Lawyer every year since 2016, and was selected for inclusion in the Top 25 Women Super Lawyers and Top 50 San Diego Super Lawyers lists in 2019, 2020, and 2021.  She has been honored for her work in Consumer Protection Law and selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers In America, and she also ranks among the National Trial Lawyers Top 100. In 2021, Alreen was named a Woman Of Influence In Law by the San Diego Business Journal, and is a past recipient of the SDBJ’s Best Of The Bar distinction.  She is a founding board member and current advisory board member of Think Dignity, and is the immediate Past President of the San Diego County Bar Foundation.

Alreen’s commitment to equality, respect, and giving a voice to all, despite race, religion, gender, or disability drives her every day to do her very best for each person who entrusts her with that opportunity. She comes from a very large family and treats each one of her clients as an extension of her own, and believes each of her clients should have the same quality of representation that she would want for her loved ones.  When Alreen is not fighting for equality, she loves spending time outdoors with her husband, Michael, and their daughter, Maya.

Education

• J.D., California Western School of Law
  • Graduated third in class
  • Editor-in-Chief, California Western Law Review
  • Editor-in-Chief, California Western International Law Journal
  • Honors Instructor, International L.L.M. Students
  • Dean’s List
• B.A., Political Science, University of California at San Diego; minors in law and society and Latin American history
• Graduate of Trial Lawyers College in Jackson, Wyoming

Awards

• Best Lawyers in America (2020-2025)
• “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers^®  (2024)
• The National Trial Lawyers Top 100
• San Diego Super Lawyer (2016-2025)
• Top 25 Women Super Lawyers (2020-2025)
• Top 50 San Diego Super Lawyers (2020-2025)
• Number 1 Settlements in Orange County in 2023 for Gender Discrimination
• Number 1 Settlements in California’s Counties in 2023 for Sexual Harassment & Gender Discrimination
• Top 50 Labor & Employment Settlements in California in 2023
• Top 100 Labor & Employment Settlements in California in 2023
• Woman Of Influence In Law, San Diego Business Journal
• Best Of The Bar, San Diego Business Journal
• Consumer Attorneys of San Diego President’s Award winner (2017)
• 40 Under 40, SD Metro Magazine (2016)
• National Association of Women Business Owners’ Women’s Advocate of the Year nominee (2016)
• Top Labor/Employment Attorney, San Diego Daily Transcript
• California Innocence Project’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipient
• Women Who Change The Game’s “Mover & Shaker” Award recipient
• Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent rated

Notable Cases

• $60,000 trial verdict in sexual harassment case against the County of San Diego
• Confidential settlement in sexual harassment case against The Grand Del Mar
• $401,000 Arbitration Award in a disability discrimination case against Lantern Crest
• Confidential settlement, plus $1.2 million in attorney’s fees, in sexual harassment case against a national fast-food chain
• Confidential settlement in gender discrimination case against The Salk Institute
• $492,000 trial verdict in disability discrimination case against Kaiser Permanente (ranked among top Top 50 Employment Verdicts in California in 2017)
• $25 million for class members in high-profile consumer fraud litigation against then-presidential contender Donald Trump and Trump University (one of California’s Top 50 Class Action Settlements in 2016)

Community Involvement

• President of San Diego County Bar Foundation
• Founding board member and current advisory board member, Think Dignity
• Litigation Section of the State Bar of California
• Consumer Attorneys of San Diego
• Consumer Attorneys of California
• California Employment Lawyers Association
• San Diego County Bar Association
• Lawyers Club of San Diego