Clarissa was valedictorian of her high school class before attending Wellesley College, where she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American Studies and Spanish. After teaching English in Mexico and managing the office of a sole practitioner in Los Angeles, Clarissa moved to San Francisco, where she attended law school at Golden Gate University, placing in the top four percent of her graduating class. She became licensed to practice law in California and an attorney at Walker, Hamilton & Kearns (then Walker, Hamilton & White) in the same year.

For nine years, Clarissa handled a busy caseload in the area of catastrophic personal injury before taking a five-year hiatus to raise her three young sons. During that time, she and her family lived in Portland, Oregon, where she served as president of the parent-teacher association (PTA) and coached youth soccer.

Clarissa and her family subsequently moved back to San Francisco, and she returned to working full-time for the firm. Over the course of her career, she has successfully handled a wide variety of personal injury cases ranging from bovine attacks to defective products to sexual abuse. She is a member of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association and Consumer Attorneys of California and has been selected for inclusion in Northern California Super Lawyers in 2024 and to its “Rising Stars” list for multiple prior years. She also speaks Spanish and Portuguese.

When not in the office, she enjoys exploring San Francisco on foot or on a bike with her family, serving on the PTA executive board and assisting with the community e-newsletter of her kids’ public schools, and doubling recipes on the weekends so as to make the work week a little less hectic come dinner preparation time.

Areas of Practice

• Child Sexual Abuse — teacher sexual abuse, student sexual abuse, and the dissemination of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) on the internet and dark web
• Catastrophic Personal Injury
• Dangerous Condition of Public Property
• Injuries Causes by Animals, including cows, bulls and other livestock
• Product Liability
• Premises Liability
• Wrongful Death

Bar Admissions

• State Bar of California, 2006

Education