Protect Your California Employees from Workplace Violence, and Your Business Operations from Disruption, with Restraining Orders the Police Will Enforce

John N. Dahlberg, Partner | McLaughlin & Stern, LLP

John N. Dahlberg is a Partner in the San Francisco office of McLaughlin & Stern, LLP, where he has obtained more than 600 emergency restraining orders to protect employees and business premises. He represents several well-known national retailers and shopping centers facing recurring theft, organized retail crime, violence, and trespass, and he also handles matters for individuals and a wide range of local and national clients.

• Education & Credentials

John received his J.D. from Yale University Law School, where he was a Prize Trial Finalist, and his A.B. with Highest Honors from the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a graduate of the Oakland Police Department Academy. He is admitted to practice before the State Bar of California, the United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Recognition & Leadership

In March 2024, John presented to the Life Safety and Security Committee of BOMA-SF (Building Owners and Managers Association) on Using Restraining Orders to Make Employees and Private Property Safer, alongside representatives of Urban Alchemy, San Francisco’s Union Square Alliance, and other groups. In February 2020, he served as a panelist on “Uninvited Behavior” problems at the National Retail and Restaurant Defense Association National Conference, addressing recurring trespass and nuisance on retail doorsteps and parking lots, the limits of police authority, and when to pursue civil court orders. He was also profiled in The Primerus Paradigm on his 1988 to 1996 experiences in Oakland and how police work sharpened his questioning as a lawyer.

• Professional Involvement

John writes and teaches on restraining order practice. His two-part Daily Journal column of August 13-14, 2026, “The Safety Tool Retailers Keep Leaving on the Shelf,” explains why workplace violence restraining orders work and how to obtain one in a single day and serve respondents, including transients. In December 2023, he presented an MCLE webinar for California attorneys on Restraining Order Law and Practice. His work on these orders has also appeared in “Handling Repeat Trespassers” in California Centers (February 2024) and “Restraining Orders: The Secret Weapon of Cali Retailers” (June 2023).

• Experience

John’s restraining order practice centers on workplace violence and anti-trespass orders, which California courts issue within one court day of application where the offender has threatened or committed violence, stalked an employee or contractor, or disrupted the business. Each matter is handled on an urgent basis, with petitions filed at the earliest possible time after an incident, and he works closely with law enforcement agencies to enforce orders through contempt of court when a restrained person does not comply. He also spent eight years as an Oakland reserve police officer. His broader practice spans injunctive relief, labor and employment, business, contract and commercial disputes, real estate, construction, First Amendment law, use of force and civil rights, catastrophic personal injury defense, and embezzlement recovery.

Session 1 – Workplace Violence Restraining Orders (CCP § 527.8) | John N. Dahlberg | 2:30pm – 3:00pm

Learn how employers or unions file workplace violence restraining orders to protect targeted employees from violence, threats, stalking, and criminal harassment, and how to make sure the victim employee is fully willing to participate in the case.

Session 2 – Civil Harassment Restraining Orders (CCP § 527.6) | John N. Dahlberg | 3:00pm – 3:30pm

Learn how individual employees or other individuals file civil harassment restraining orders to stop violence, threats, stalking, and criminal harassment at or away from work.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

Session 3 – Retail Theft Orders (PC § 490.8(e)) | John N. Dahlberg | 3:40pm – 4:10pm

Explore specialized injunctive relief designed for retailers to combat theft by persons arrested at least twice at the retailer.

Session 4 – General Civil Trespass and Nuisance Injunctions | John N. Dahlberg | 4:10pm – 4:40pm

Learn how to stop nonviolent trespass and nuisances on private property by loiterers, aggressive beggars, trespassers, petition circulators, charity solicitors, and other disorderly people.