Crystal Miller-O’Brien
Los Angeles, CA
Appointed by Governor Newsom
Current Term Extends through June 30, 2029
Crystal Miller-O’Brien is a practicing litigation/labor & employment law attorney with a career spanning more than two decades. She entered the law profession after graduating from Oberlin College, working in risk management and at Howard University where she performed policy work that was ultimately adopted into the Americans with Disabilities Act.
While a law student at Willamette University in Oregon (from 1998-2001), she served as a Legislative Law Clerk to Governor John Kitzhaber’s Office of General Counsel. She was responsible for tracking insurance and livability issues. Through law school she clerked for the Department of Justice and City of Portland, and worked as a Summer Associate at the law firms of Stoel Rives, LLP in Portland and at Bullivant Houser Bailey, LLP in Seattle, Washington.
After graduating from law school, she served as a Judicial Clerk to Justice Faith Ireland of the Washington State Supreme Court, and then accepted her full-time offer to work for Bullivant by returning to California. After working at large and boutique law firms, Crystal went in-house working as General Counsel to a human resources firm where she also led its Labor & Employment Law operations for 14 years. She is currently an Employee Relations Advisor for Intuit Inc.
Throughout her career, Crystal has been a passionate advocate for the “voiceless.” She is committed to assuring practical and speedy resolutions, and enjoys providing clarity to how government-sponsored channels are navigated.
She has worked on a number of pro bono projects addressing policing and voting rights, participated in local bar associations throughout the West Coast, has served on the board of directors for the California Conference of Bar Associations and the Resolutions Committee, worked as a court-annexed mediator, an LA County Deputy Commissioner officiating civil unions when same-sex marriage laws were not clear, and has served as a Temporary Judge for the LA County Superior Court presiding over traffic, small claims, and unlawful detainer matters for the past five years.
Crystal is one of five panel attorneys to the Workplace Conduct Unit through a 2019 appointment from Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye. This unit investigates matters involving workplace discrimination, harassment and retaliation alleged by legislative and judiciary employees, and was created in response to the #MeToo movement. Crystal has also recently completed her last term of a decade of service to the Law Revision Commission, which she was initially appointed to by Governor Edmund ‘Jerry’ Brown, Jr.
Crystal is the mother to two children and lives in Los Angeles, where she was born and raised. She is a member of Corporate Counsel Women of Color, the National Association of Black Women Lawyers, Black Women Lawyers of LA, and Zonta International.