Tanya Smith

Tanya Smith is an Associate at Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Team LLP, based in the Northern California office. Her practice focuses on employment law, where she represents workers in discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and whistleblower actions. Tanya advocates for employees across both state and federal courts, ensuring they receive steadfast representation in the face of workplace injustice.

Tanya has built over a decade of plaintiff-side and union-side experience across California and Nevada, gaining deep insight into how employment claims are litigated from the ground up. She leverages that experience to champion individuals who have been wronged in the workplace, applying strategic, case-tested advocacy to secure just outcomes. Her background includes representing clients in jury trials, arbitrations, mediation, and before administrative agencies including the Public Employment Relations Board and State Personnel Board, and she has achieved numerous favorable resolutions across a wide range of employment matters.

She has first-chaired a five-week jury trial involving employment discrimination and whistleblower retaliation and previously tried a case as a new lawyer in Carson City, Nevada. She also first-chaired a significant matter in Sacramento County involving FEHA disability discrimination and Labor Code Section 1102.5 claims against the California Assembly. Tanya’s commitment to workers’ rights was shaped in part by her earlier career as a teacher and her experience at the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (now the Civil Rights Department), where she worked as a part-time summer law clerk. She also served as a judicial extern for former Senior District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton in the Eastern District of California.

Tanya earned her J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where she received the Stauffer Charitable Trust Award for Excellence in Legal Writing. She holds a B.A. in Communications from Brigham Young University, where she was a National Merit Scholar.

Bar Admissions

• California
• Nevada
• U.S. District Court – Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court – Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court – Central District of California
• U.S. District Court – Southern District of California
• U.S. District Court – District of Nevada

Association Memberships

• American Association of Justice (AAJ)
• California Employment Lawyers Association, Public Employee Committee Co-Chair 2023–2024
• Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC)
• Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA)

Contact her at tanya@aswtlawyers.com to discuss your case.