Shauna Madison is a Managing Partner at Medina Orthwein LLP. Shauna has extensive experience in both civil and criminal litigation. She is passionate about pursuing meaningful cases on behalf of underrepresented and underserved communities. In her legal practice, Shauna has achieved noteworthy results through pretrial negotiations, mediations, preliminary hearings, and trials.
Prior to joining Medina Orthwein, Shauna was a criminal defense attorney at the Alameda County Public Defender's Office, advocating on behalf of indigent clients. During her time at the public defender's office, Shauna managed hundreds of felony and misdemeanor cases, through all stages of litigation including client interviews, arraignments, investigations, pre-trial negotiations, preliminary hearings, trials and sentencing hearings. In addition to trial advocacy, Shauna provided expert representation in extradition and interstate compact cases. Shauna also facilitated officewide trainings while assisting in the recruitment and retention of attorneys from marginalized communities.
Previously, Shauna was an Associate Attorney at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP (CPM), in Burlingame where her areas of practice included elder abuse, personal injury, consumer class actions, false claims act, and pro bono immigration. While at CPM, Shauna was most proud of her pro bono representation of unaccompanied minors from Guatemala and El Salvador. These minors were detained by immigration officials at the U.S. – Mexico border, hoping to escape gang violence and join their parents. Shauna assisted them in obtaining U-Visas in partnership with CARECEN, a non-profit which provides legal services to Latino, immigrant, and under-resourced families in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Shauna received her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law. While at USF Law, Shauna was invited to attend the 2011 White House Black LGBT Emerging Leaders Conference, where she received advanced policy briefing on upcoming LGBT legislation. She also provided feedback to White House administrators on social and legal issues affecting the LGBTQ community. Shauna was also a member of USF Law's Public Interest Law Foundation Board, student advocate for USF's Employment Law Clinic, and Finalist in the National Black Law Students Association's Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition. While at USF Law, Shauna also received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award (highest grade) for her academic excellence in Constitutional Law.
Shauna has also interned at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Federal Public Defender's Office ““ Central District, and was a judicial extern to the Honorable Benjamin Gutman at the United States Merit Systems Protection Board.
