Alreen Haeggquist

Alreen Haeggquist is dedicated to representing employees who have been wrongfully terminated, harassed, and discriminated against at work. Over the past 19 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.  In 2017, her jury trial verdict in a 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’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.

Admitted to the California State Bar December 2002; Eligible to practice in CA and NV Jurisdictions

• 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

• Managing Partner

  Haeggquist & Eck, LLP · Full-time Sep 2008 – Present · 13 yrs 10 mos San Diego, California, United StatesS

  • • As founder and managing partner of Haeggquist & Eck LLP, Alreen Haeggquist is dedicated to representing employees who have been wrongfully terminated or otherwise harassed and discriminated against at work. Alreen has successfully represented employees in cases involving wrongful termination, retaliation, wage theft, contract violations, sexual harassment, and all types of discrimination.

      The overwhelming majority of Alreen’s clients are women who have suffered egregious wrongs at the hands of their employers, and no defendant is too large or powerful for her to tackle. She has recently represented plaintiffs in employment claims against such major corporations as the Fairmont Grand Del Mar, The Salk Institute, Trader Joe’s, Sharp Healthcare, and Kaiser Permanente. Alreen was also class counsel in the well-publicized consumer fraud litigation against Donald Trump and Trump University.

      In September 2016, Alreen was named one of SD Metro Magazine’s “40 Under 40”. In April, she was nominated for the National Association of Women Business Owners’ Women’s Advocate of the Year award for her work on behalf of women who have been wrongfully terminated or sexually harassed in the workplace. Earlier this year, Alreen was named a Super Lawyer for her work in employment litigation. Less than an estimated five percent of attorneys statewide receive this honor. She has also received an AV Preeminent rating, the highest peer rating standard bestowed on attorneys by research clearinghouse Martindale-Hubbell, for professional excellence in legal knowledge, skills, and ethics. In 2011, the San Diego Daily Transcript named Alreen a Top Labor/Employment Attorney, and she is a past recipient of the California Innocence Project’s Distinguished Alumni Award. As founder and managing partner of Haeggquist & Eck LLP, Alreen Haeggquist is dedicated to representing employees who have been wrongfully terminated or otherwise harassed and discriminated against at work. Alreen has successfully represented employees in cases involving wrongful termination, retaliation, wage theft, contract violations, sexual harassment, and all types of discrimination. The overwhelming majority of Alreen’s clients are women who have suffered egregious wrongs at the hands of their employers, and no defendant is too large or powerful for her to tackle. She has recently represented plaintiffs in employment claims against such major corporations as the Fairmont Grand Del Mar, The Salk Institute, Trader Joe’s, Sharp Healthcare, and Kaiser Permanente. Alreen was also class counsel in the well-publicized consumer fraud litigation against Donald Trump and Trump University. In September 2016, Alreen was named one of SD Metro Magazine’s “40 Under 40”. In April, she was nominated for the National Association of Women Business Owners’ Women’s Advocate of the Year award for her work on behalf of women who have been wrongfully terminated or sexually harassed in the workplace. Earlier this year, Alreen was named a Super Lawyer for her work in employment litigation. Less than an estimated five percent of attorneys statewide receive this honor. She has also received an AV Preeminent rating, the highest peer rating standard bestowed on attorneys by research clearinghouse Martindale-Hubbell, for professional excellence in legal knowledge, skills, and ethics. In 2011, the San Diego Daily Transcript named Alreen a Top Labor/Employment Attorney, and she is a past recipient of the California Innocence Project’s Distinguished Alumni Award.…see more

• Owner

  Haeggquist Law Group Mar 2007 – Sep 2008 · 1 yr 7 mos
• Associate

  Lerach Coughlin 2002 – 2007 · 5 yrs2002 – 2007 · 5 yrs Greater San Diego Area

  • • Attorney at the nation’s largest consumer class action firm, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP. Played a key role in successfully prosecuting a number of antitrust and unfair competition cases, including In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merch. Disc. Antitrust Litig. (E.D.N.Y.), In re Carbon Black Antitrust Litig. (D. Mass.) and Thomas & Thomas Rodmakers, Inc. v. Newport Adhesives & Composites, Inc. (Carbon Fiber Antitrust Litigation), Case No. CV-99-7796 (C.D. Cal.), which resulted in a $675 million settlement for a class of purchasers that purchased allegedly price-fixed carbon fiber.

• Best Lawyers in America (2020-2022)
• The National Trial Lawyers Top 100
• San Diego Super Lawyer (2016-2022)
• Top 25 Women Super Lawyers (2020-2022)
• Top 50 San Diego Super Lawyers (2020-2022)
• 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

• Consumer Attorneys of San Diego

  Board Member; Chair, Community Outreach CommitteeBoard Member; Chair, Community Outreach Committee

  • Associated with Haeggquist & Eck, LLP

• Girls Think Tank

  Founding Board Member; Current Member, Advisory Board

  • • Founding board member of the Girls Think Tank (now known as Think Dignity), a grassroots 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that fosters a culture of empowerment amongst women and provides a catalyst for social change on issues that confront them daily – including homelessness, prostitution of young women, and gang violence.

• $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)