Fitzpatrick & Swanston

Salinas-based Employment Law Attorneys

Our Team

B. James (“Jim”) Fitzpatrick

Jim has been practicing law in the Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley area for over 35 years. For over 20 years, the primary emphasis of his practice has been labor and employment litigation, representing primarily employees. Jim also serves as a court-appointed mediator for litigation pending in Monterey County.

Alison L. Baker

Alison has been a trial attorney in the Monterey Bay Area for over 25 years. Her practice at the Salinas-based firm Fitzpatrick & Swanston focuses on labor and employment litigation, primarily plaintiff-side sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation claims, as well as class and representative wage and hour actions. Prior to joining Fitzpatrick & Swanston in October 2022, Alison was the Director of Litigation for the Watsonville Law Center, a nonprofit legal services office focused on using civil litigation to achieve justice for poor and vulnerable communities in the areas of employment, housing, and consumer protection law. Her practice history includes a decade of service as a Judicial Attorney for the Santa Cruz County Superior Court at the Watsonville Court Self Help Center/Family Law Facilitator. She also practiced plaintiff-side litigation as a private-practice trial attorney at San Francisco-based law firm Kemnitzer, Anderson, Barron & Ogilvie. Early in her legal career, Alison served as outside litigation defense counsel to public entities in Monterey County. Alison has utilized her Spanish language fluency not only to assist Spanish-speaking workers in California, but also to further Spanish-language protections in consumer financing, auto sales and leasing, and prosecuting unfair debt collection practices and unfair/unlawful credit reporting.