Selin Akkan

Selin Akkan's practice encompasses employment counseling and litigation for a wide range of employers. She advises on all aspects relating to the workplace, including hiring, worker classification, equal opportunity, anti-harassment, wage and hour, leaves of absence, employee separations, non-competition, non-solicitation, trade secret misappropriation and more. She has conducted or advised with respect to numerous workplace investigations and regularly presents to all kinds of audiences. Selin conducts anti-harassment and other trainings for employers and presents to various groups with respect to everchanging aspects of California employment law.  

In addition to her technology and life sciences clients, Selin has significant expertise advising venture capital and other investment firms with respect to issues unique to their industry. She most recently has focused her practice on COVID-19 and the workplace and regularly advises and presents with respect to novel issues in that area.

Her litigation practice includes representing employers in federal and state court litigation, arbitration and mediation. Selin has experience in various administrative proceedings before state and federal agencies.

She is also active in pro bono matters, including advising non-profits on employment issues and representing individuals in guardianship and U-visa immigration proceedings.

Selin rejoined Cooley in 2017 after a one-year judicial clerkship with the Honorable Maxine M. Chesney at the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

While at Yale Law School, Selin served as a research assistant to Professor Vicki Schultz and as a senior editor for the Yale Journal of Law and Technology and the Yale Journal of International Law. She also served as a student director for the Temporary Restraining Order Project, assisting domestic violence victims with the restraining order process, and represented clients in unemployment benefits proceedings through the New Haven Legal Assistance Clinic.