Women’s Initiative

Kat Lee is Senior Counsel and a Team Leader in Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office. With nine years’ experience as an attorney, Kat specializes in insurance defense, medical malpractice, catastrophic accidents, subrogation matters, personal injury, premise liability, business litigation and contract law. Learn more about this Ally McBeal fan and beach lover below.

Cayce Greiner was recently promoted to Administrative Partner in the San Diego office. Cayce oversees all of Tyson & Mendes’ administrative functions, including staffing and human resources, marketing, finance and accounting, facilities management, and IT.  Starting out as a litigator, Cayce quickly advanced her role within the firm.  Prior to her promotion to Administrative Partner, she helped the firm more than double in size while…

Catie Johnson is Senior Counsel in Tyson & Mendes’ Los Angeles office, where she defends individuals and private entities in state and federal general liability matters, including but not limited to premises liability, motor vehicle negligence, products liability, habitability, excessive force, and civil rights claims. Catie, who was recently promoted to Team Leader, is a creative and proactive negotiator with an outstanding track record of…

Susan Oliver is a Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ La Jolla offices, where she leads a multi-attorney team focused on catastrophic personal injury defense, employment practices litigation defense, the defense of entity defendants where sexual torts are alleged, including sexual assault and child sexual abuse, and medical malpractice defense. Susan is known for finding novel legal arguments and has been extremely successful in positioning cases for…

Jessica Heppenstall is a team leader in the firm’s Automobile Liability practice group. As an emerging leader, Ms. Heppenstall has more than 10 years of experience in the legal industry. Her representation of individuals and businesses includes high-exposure matters involving alleged catastrophic injury and wrongful death. Read on to learn about her biggest accomplishments, and what she enjoys most about being part of the T&M team.

Kristi Blackwell is a Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office and leads the firm’s Retail, Restaurant, and Hospitality practice group. Kristi was the third partner for the firm (after Bob and Pat), and played a key role in preparing the petition and opening brief for Howell v. Hamilton Meats, one of the firm’s most significant wins. Kristi’s practice focuses primarily on general liability, personal injury, premises liability, and complex litigation.

The new Managing Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ Los Angeles office, Heather Bean, is also a leader in the firm’s Retail, Restaurant, and Hospitality practice group. Heather has more than 15 years of experience in the legal industry and has become an expert trial attorney in general liability, personal injury, premises liability and products liability claims. She is also a classically trained pianist. Read on to learn about her biggest accomplishments, and…

Lynn Allen is the managing partner of Tyson & Mendes’ Phoenix office. After running her own practice for more than 10 years, she saw an opportunity to grow even further with the help of T&M’s unique defense methods, training program and marketing strategies. Read on to learn about some of her biggest accomplishments and how she maintains work-life balance.

Have you ever wondered why the demographics of CEOs and those in leadership positions remain largely homogenous regardless of a diverse workforce?  Or why certain physical attributes, such as being tall, are associated with leaders?  Unconscious associations, or implicit bias, may be part of the reason.