If you have matters that require legal services in the area of education law, estate planning, or employment law you  are in the right place. This web page is the online site of Rich Kitchens, Attorney at Law, in Concord, California. We have worked with teachers, administrators, parents, students, and school districts in dealing with school-related issues. Further, he has developed countless wills and revocable living trusts for individuals, couples, and families. Please feel free to contact us with your questions. "Chance favors the prepared mind."

Firm Overview

With more than thirty five years of experience in education, Rich Kitchens knows his way around school districts. His experience in the field will provide you with expert guidance. He has a degree in Politics (UC Santa Cruz '74). a California teaching credential (San Francisco State), a masters degree in "Educational Leadership" (CSU, Hayward), in addition to a law degree from John F. Kennedy University. He has been a secondary school teacher, a site administrator, and worked in Human Resources at the district level. He has been a high school Athletic Director, local union President, and, interestingly, has been the lead negotiator for both labor and management at various times. He has won awards for his teaching and coaching. He is a tough negotiator who wants his clients to get what they deserve.

Rich Kitchens had mentored others in the use of mock trials to teach trial techniques and evidentiary rules. He has won awards from Court TV in the teaching about the law of sexual harassment. His textbook, Constitutional Law (4th ed.), has helped many high school students understand the intricacies of the U.S. and California constitutions. He has published a textbook, California Public School Law, published by the Constitutional Law Education Project, of which he is the Director. He has taught "Special Problems in Constitutional Law" and "Education Law" at Golden Gate University Law School in San Francisco and "California Education Law" at John F. Kennedy University Law School in Pleasant Hill. His presentations to the California League of High Schools, the California Council for the Social Studies, and the ABA's Division on Public Education, among other groups, on such topics as "What Educators Want (and Need) to Know About the Law," "How to Teach Civics As a Course in Constitutional Law," "Ten Laws Teachers Should Know About," and "The Law of Sexual Harassment in the Public School" have won accolades in Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, Baltimore, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Burbank, Ontario, and Sacramento. More recently, the call has gone out for training of administrators in the law of sexual harassment. He has successfully presented workshops to managers and administrators in the public school setting regarding the law and prevention of sexual harassment.

Rich Kitchens has extensive background involving teachers and grievances and labor disputes, unions and labor negotiation, districts involved with discipline hearings, special education disputes, and students facing expulsion and other disciplinary hearings. He has been a teacher, an administrator, a union advocate, and has worked as an attorney in a variety of settings.