Meet our President
Bobby Shukla was born in Brazil to Indian parents and permanently moved to the United States, to Santa Barbara County, when she was 6 years old. Due to her multi-cultural background, she grew up speaking three languages, Portuguese, Hindi and English (in that order).
She remained in Santa Barbara through college, attending UC Santa Barbara where she double-majored in Philosophy and English Literature. Bobby later moved to San Francisco to pursue her J.D. at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (now UC College of the Law, San Francisco), where she co-founded the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal and graduated as a Public Interest Scholar. At Hastings, Bobby had the opportunity to take an employment discrimination course taught by former California Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grodin, which inspired her career path.
Bobby is the principal of Shukla Law, P.C. and an experienced trial lawyer who exclusively practices employment law on behalf of employees, specializing in cases involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblowing and pay equity.
Prior to starting her own practice, Bobby worked with the Hon. Stephen M. Murphy at the Law Offices of Stephen M. Murphy, where they also practiced plaintiff-side employment law. Judge Murphy, also a former SFTLA President, inspired Bobby’s involvement in the organization.
As President of SFTLA, she aims to uphold the organization's 75-year legacy of advancing civil justice through education and trial advocacy and promoting access to justice for all communities. She is particularly committed to increasing diversity within the plaintiffs’ bar, including parity among our ranks for women and other minorities.
In today’s tumultuous political environment, Bobby also seeks to position SFTLA as a vocal defender of the rule of law and continuing its long tradition of protecting the jury trial system.
For fun, Bobby enjoys live comedy, both stand-up and sketch, especially in San Francisco’s smaller venues where lesser-known comics perform. Bobby also loves to read literary fiction, especially short stories, and dreams of completing her book of short stories one day (which is only 20 years in the making). Bobby has also never heard a song she cannot and will not dance to.
Mostly, Bobby loves to spend time with her family, her spouse Chris, their children, Mina and Astor, and their two disobedient cats, Prince and Bella, and with extended family, her mother, sisters, niece, nephew and brothers-in-law. One of the many things Bobby cherishes about growing up in an immigrant family is the unspoken understanding that family is never far and always ready to gather.