Kirsten
scheurer branigan

Managing Partner
Kirsten@KSBraniganLaw.com

Attorney-at-Law
Investigator
Arbitrator
Mediator

Experience

Having founded the firm 15 years ago, Kirsten has been the driving force behind the growth and evolution of KSB Law, a woman-owned employment compliance and alternative dispute resolution law firm that focuses on bias prevention and remediation through training, policies, climate assessments, investigations, equal pay audits, and counseling; and dispute resolution through mediation and arbitration.

She is an experienced employment litigator but currently serves in an array of non-litigation employment compliance and neutral roles, including investigator, arbitrator, trainer, mediator, and expert witness.

Kirsten has exclusively practiced employment law for 25+ years and has served as an arbitrator and mediator for nearly 15 years. She has broad employment law litigation experience in New Jersey state and federal courts and before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, and the New Jersey Department of Labor. She has litigation experience on class actions and multi-party matters. She utilizes her extensive employment law and litigation background in her neutral work.

Kirsten has personally conducted over 50 employment investigations; trains organizations on managing complaints and performing effective investigations; and has developed cutting-edge investigation programs that help organizations implement effective investigation practices and protocols. She has experience in handling sensitive investigations involving the highest level of organizational management and legal/compliance departments; has dealt with a wide variety of industries, professions, fields, and sectors; and has worked with global/international organizations, including Fortune 500 companies. She has investigated matters involving a broad array of claims by employees ranging from hourly staff employees to C-suite executives.

She has testified as an expert witness on the efficacy of investigations. She provided testimony during a September 2019 public hearing on sexual harassment by the New Jersey Devision on Civil Rights (DCR) and the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA), from which a February 2020 Report resulted in the first-ever written “Investigation Best Practices” in New Jersey.

To help ensure that employment-related allegations are effectively addressed, she developed an intensive investigation training workshop entitled HR on Trial: Conducting Effective Employment Investigations. This cutting-edge workshop is a full-day immersive experience, that includes an interactive, three-act role-play in which possible weaknesses in an investigative process are acted out. She trains in-house investigators and helps organizations develop protocols to facilitate consistent investigation standards, including creating and/or updating of investigation policies and toolkits.

Kirsten also has experience managing equal pay audits comprehending a myriad of issues, including those related to law firm compensation, civil service classifications, and union/collective bargaining units. Such work has included identifying disparities; engaging in legal analysis as to substantially similar duties based upon a composite of skill, effort and responsibility; assessing strength of affirmative defenses; and assisting clients with strategies to eliminate wage gaps.

Kirsten is passionate about training and education and has been conducting training for over 20 years, including on the topics of effective prevention and remediation of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. She also trains unconscious bias awareness, cultural competency, generational differences, and the importance of well-being/mental health awareness and mindfulness. In addition to group training, she coaches leaders, executives, and employees on a broad scope of employment compliance issues, communications, boundaries, performance management, and leadership styles/behaviors designed to foster respect and eliminate bias in the workplace.

Kirsten provides Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) consulting, including assisting law firms as to their DEI Programs, Women’s Initiatives, and strategies to engage and retain women and underrepresented individuals in the law. Kirsten also has experience with academic institutions, including colleges and universities, on Title IX matters and currently serves as External Advisor through Title IX/Sexual Misconduct Grievance Program.

Kirsten is seasoned arbitrator and a mediator and provides ADR services privately and through panels. In her ADR practice, she handles a broad scope of employment law matters, including class action, multi-party, and executive matters.

AAA Panels/ADR Roles

• Investigator, Investigation Panel, American Arbitration Association

• Arbitrator, Employment Panel, American Arbitration Association

• Mediator, Mediation Panel, American Arbitration Association

• New Jersey Court Roster Mediator

Academic Roles

• Adjunct Professor, Rutgers Law School, Newark, International Human Rights Clinic

• External Advisor, Princeton University’s Title IX/Sexual Misconduct Grievance Program

Leadership & Projects

• New Jersey Lawyers Assistance Program Board of Trustees member committed to awareness of mental health and substance use challenges in the legal profession

• Past President (and current Board member) of the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association (NJWLA) leading the 2006 revitalization of NJWLA (which was on the brink of disbanding) to its present robust membership

• Dedicated to projects addressing advancement and retention of women in the law including collaborating with Rutgers Law School International Human Rights Clinic to launch a 2023 study

• Contributed to project Safe Workplaces in New Jersey Politics involving topics such as sexual assault, harassment, and bias prevention

• Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, committed to professionalism and civility, and excellence in the practice of employment law

• Workplace Investigation Subcommittee of the ABA/L&E-Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee and the Workplace Investigation Committee of the NJSBA Labor & Employment Executive Board

Recognitions & Associations

• New Jersey Super Lawyers, Alternative Dispute Resolution (2020-present)*

• Rated AV Preeminent through Martindale Hubbell**

• New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Women in the Courts (2014-2018)

• New Jersey Council on Diversity and Inclusion Transition Committee (gubernatorial appointment) (2017)

• Women's Initiative and Leaders in the Law (WILL) Platinum Award, New Jersey Women Lawyers Association (2016)

• Commissioner, Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) (gubernatorial appointment) (2007-2009)

• Alice Paul Equality Award, Alice Paul Institute (2008)

• Kirsten Scheurer Branigan Presidential Leadership Award (created in her name by NJWLA) (2008)

• NJ BIZ, Mover & Shaker in the Legal Industry and 40 Under Forty Award (2008)

• Professional Lawyer of the Year Award, New Jersey Commission on Professionalism (2006)

Speaking Engagements & Publications

Kirsten speaks and publishes on employment law related topics. She also speaks and writes on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and advancement and retention of women in the legal profession. Her speaking engagements include local and national audiences.

Bar Admissions & Education

Admitted to Practice

• State of New Jersey (1995)

• United States District Court, District of New Jersey (1995)

• United States Supreme Court (2019)

Education

• Rutgers Law School, Rutgers University, Newark, J.D. (Minority Student Program, Alumna)

• Rutgers University, New Brunswick, B.A. with High Honors (Henry Rutgers Scholar)

• Saint Dominic Academy, Jersey City