Krista L. Baughman

How can I protect my reputation against someone who is anonymously defaming me online? What steps should I take when a former employee has stolen my company’s trade secrets? Can the anti-SLAPP statute protect my right to free speech?

These are just a few of the important questions Krista helps her clients tackle on a daily basis. Krista’s practice focuses on commercial litigation, First Amendment rights and anti-SLAPP procedure, and privacy litigation.

From Krista’s interview<https://www.reellawyers.com/attorneys/commercial/san-francisco/krista-baughman> for the Masters of the Courtroom series on ReelLawyers.com
As a partner of Dhillon Law Group with over a decade of experience in the courtroom, Krista has managed precedent-setting cases, including one that established that university Title IX proceedings are protected forums for speech under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, and another that clarified the 9th Circuit standard for due process liability against police, and government qualified immunity, in crowd control situations. She and her team achieved a landmark settlement to ensure the First Amendment rights of students at UC Berkeley, and ended the use of unconstitutional speech-restricting policies in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of San Clemente on behalf of its citizens.

Krista represents corporations, high profile public figures, nonprofit organizations, gig economy companies, and private individuals alike. She is driven by the joy of helping people find solutions for the most stressful and high-stakes problems in their business and personal lives. Krista’s clients appreciate her insightful assessment of legal issues, her creativity in crafting a strategy that thinks three steps ahead, her attention to detail in the execution, and her integrity throughout.

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Krista is admitted to practice in New York and California, and litigates in federal courts around the nation. She is proficient in French. On the weekends you can find her going on a family hike, experimenting in the kitchen, or debating legal issues with her husband for the fun of it.

Court Admissions:

  • United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
  • United States District Court:
    • Central District of California
    • Northern District of California
    • Eastern District of California
    • Southern District of California
    • Middle District of Florida
    • District of Massachusetts

Practice Areas:

  • General and Complex Commercial Litigation
  • Intellectual Property (Trademark, Copyright and Trade Secrets)
  • First Amendment (Defamation, Trade Libel, and anti-SLAPP)
  • Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
  • Privacy Litigation
  • Employment Law and Litigation

Education:

  • Lehigh University, B.A. International Relations, magna cum laude
  • Brooklyn Law School, J.D., cum laude

 

Selected Publications:

UC Berkeley, birthplace of the growing anti-free speech movement The Hill 2017
When Employees Speak for the State The Daily Journal 2015

 

Representative Speaking Engagements:

Sound and Fury: Morality, Ideology and the rise of “Cancel Culture” Thomson Reuters Institute September, 2020
Battling Corporate Internet Trolls: Going After Imposters and Competitors That Break the Law Strafford MCLE Presentation July, 2020
Free Speech Panel UC Berkeley School of Law April, 2017
Free Speech Panel Golden Gate University School of Law October, 2017
“Protecting Your Client From Damaging, Anonymous Internet Content” PLI Presentation November, 2014
An ‘Uncivil War’: Examining Political Tribalism and the Rise of the Grievance Culture” Thomson Reuters Institute March 2021 (yes, this is in the future)