California's premier and leading law firm, Boucher Law, PC, is a "one-stop shop" for all of HR’s and employment needs

The role of human resources in the workplace has never been more important. Aside from the traditional functions of recruitment, onboarding, L&D, and payroll, HR professionals must also have a comprehensive understanding of relevant and updated HR law and its corresponding regulations. Given the complex legal requirements related to employment, a HR-based law firm can step in and help employers manage these complex legal requirements while managing their organizations.

Boucher Law, PC is one such HR-centric and HR-focused labor and employment law firm that streamlines HR-based legal and regulatory research, analysis, and workflows to drive value to organizations. Founded by a seasoned former HR executive with a broad spectrum of industry experience, Christopher K. Boucher, Boucher Law protects employers and partners with them to lead and manage their organizations.  With changing federal, state, and local laws and regulations, Boucher Law’s team prides itself in providing innovative, responsive, and practical legal solutions to meet their client’s needs, and they recognize that there is no “one size fits all” approach when it comes to labor and employment law matters.Christopher K. Boucher, Founding Attorney, spoke exclusively to the CIO Bulletin about how he and his team of experienced attorneys and consultants are providing innovative, responsive, and practical legal solutions to meet their clients’ needs.

Interview Highlights

Q. Why was Boucher Law, PC, born? Where does Boucher Law, PC stand at the moment?

Boucher Law, PC, was set out to address the day-to-day challenges HR professionals face in organizations. Having spanned the dimensions of the HR spectrum, the attorneys and consultants at Boucher Law, backed by a “can-do attitude” and a highly adaptable work ethic, each carry over 20 years of hands-on HR experience. Having spanned the HR spectrum, attorneys and consultants at Boucher Law adhere to a boutique, personalized approach to collaborations.

Today, our firm stands tall as the trusted legal counsel for a diverse clientele spanning public municipalities, nonprofit organizations, utilities, aviation, maritime, special districts, education, and the private employment sectors throughout California.

In addition, our firm’s commitment to providing practical HR solutions extends to a full suite of HR consulting practice and services, which allows our team of experienced HR Consultants to work collaboratively with our attorneys and clients for a seamless experience, and effectively allowing us to be our client’s “one stop shop” for all of HR’s labor and employment needs,

Q. Given the experience and award-winning attorneys at Boucher Law, PC, how uniquely does the firm serve its clients’ needs?

Boucher Law adheres to a boutique, personalized approach to collaborations. Although we often tell ourselves not to make anything personal in what we do, I do firmly believe that these engagements are personal in the sense that we really wanted to get this done for our clients. We treat them like family. The team stands by this philosophy, pushing the boundaries of innovation and going the extra mile as and when necessary to help clients achieve their business outcomes from a legally compliant and defensible standpoint, even if it means long days at the office and late evening engagements.

Our practical approach to resolving labor and employment law matters have earned us the high praise as the “practical” labor and employment lawyers. With a deeply rooted background in HR and a commitment to providing legal solutions that meet the practical needs of our employer clients, we strive to provide legal solutions that are everyday sensible, yet legally compliant.

This committed approach to risk mitigation and legal engagements ensures honest and open-ended communication with all parties involved, avoids potential misunderstandings, and adopts a personal approach to modern legal practice. Most importantly, we empower clients to stay in tune with the developments within the HR industry, aligning business objectives with practical legal solutions. Our clients cherish the noteworthy alliance for the value the legal and practical experts brought to the table, integrating themselves into the client’s enterprise to address every concern that could arise.

Q. Can you provide us with one or two success stories describing the challenges your clients faced and how Boucher Law helped them overcome those challenges?

One such engagement that showcases the role played by Boucher Law is the firm’s collaboration with a client in pursuit of a CHRO. The client had ongoing open labor contracts, and the new CHRO needed to be acquainted with the current developments in the business. As the client’s labor counsel and employment attorney, Boucher Law stepped in to lead, working with multiple departments to create a mentorship program for the prospective candidate, with Boucher spearheading the labor negotiations and his team managing the hiring process.

Boucher Law also adds a new spin to the legal mediation process, serving as the neutral third-party that resolves workplace conflicts of interest, disagreements, and organizational disputes, which are not necessarily policy or legal violations but come with everyday ramifications. The firm creates ‘work together agreements’ for businesses and stakeholders, taking into account the best interests of the employers and the employees, and forging a professional partnership that benefits the enterprise and the people involved.

Q. Is there anything you want us to highlight that we might have missed?

In terms of developing talent within the HR profession, I believe in nurturing the next generation of HR leaders and reaffirm my stance of giving back to the HR industry, having gathered exhaustive knowledge through multiple roles within the industry. I and my team are here to help clients create a diverse and inclusive work environment, developing strategies to attain maximum value from their workforce while keeping employees motivated and goal-oriented.

I often make this joke when interacting with clients: “I am like the bird that gets to fly all over the sky and has the opportunity to see everybody’s backyards, gardens, and so forth.” I also get to listen to them. Having had many such interactions, I always try to suggest three possible options for clients with low, medium, and high risk based on risk assessment. Because it is our responsibility as partners to allow them to make an informed decision based upon the legal parameters and to stay practical in the solutions we come up with for our clients.

Christopher K. Boucher | Founding Attorney

Across his illustrious career, Boucher has donned various hats as an HR professional. At the age of 21, fresh off college, Christopher was presented with the opportunity to serve as an HR business partner, and a few years later, in his mid-20s, he was appointed as the CHRO business partner, and a few years later, in his mid-20s, he was appointed as the CHRO. His stint as a CHRO includes being the HR and Risk Manager for the Contra Costa Water District, the second largest urban water district in Northern California. From there, Christopher was tapped to serve as the Chief Human Resources Officer for the Port of Oakland, which includes the Oakland International Airport, the second busiest airport in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Oakland Sea Port, the fifth busiest container seaport in the United States. These roles provided Christopher with a vantage point from which to understand the experiences faced by an HR professional, from which he gained a thorough understanding of the industry.

In recognition of his human resources and legal accomplishments, Christopher was featured as one of 2016’s national ‘Top Five Rising Stars’ by Human Resource Executive magazine, and he was named among America’s Top 50 Lawyers, which identifies and highlights the accomplishments of the nation’s most distinguished and skilled attorneys in all fields of practice. In addition to his legal abilities, his clients value his extensive practical human resources and labor negotiation experience.

“I and my team are here to help clients create a diverse and inclusive work environment, developing strategies to attain maximum value from their workforce while keeping employees motivated and goal-oriented.”