Our Team

Inna Shankar, ESQ.

Attorney Shareholder

Inna Shankar is a founding Shareholder of Shankar Legal Inc., where she provides strategic advisory and transactional legal services to education sector, private business, and non-profit clients. She also advises on commercial and residential landlord-tenant matters, overseeing the firm’s municipal agency work, including eviction defense services through local government contracts. Drawing on more than 13 years of experience in employment, business, and landlord–tenant law, Ms. Shankar works closely with clients to anticipate challenges, resolve conflicts efficiently, and build legal strategies that strengthen their organizations for the future.

For private business and non-profit clients, Ms. Shankar has extensive experience in contract review and drafting, business formation, governance and dissolution, and landlord-tenant law. She also advises on California and federal employment law compliance, including wage and hour matters, and conducts complex workplace investigations.

For education sector clients, Ms. Shankar provides guidance on business office operations, student matters, and Special Education Law compliance. She conducts investigations into Title IX complaints, harassment, discrimination, and bullying for K-12 schools, community colleges, and universities. She drafts school and university policies, procedures, and collective bargaining agreements, and has significant expertise in CalSTRS/CalPERS retirement law.

Trained in trauma-informed investigation techniques and California-specific legal compliance, Ms. Shankar takes a holistic approach to investigations, from initial communications and risk mitigation to final reports and advising on subsequent employment actions.

Education & Career Experience

Ms. Shankar earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, where she worked as a research assistant on studies of race and gender bias. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where she contributed to the Women’s Law Journal.

She began her legal career prosecuting elder abuse cases at a boutique litigation firm in San Francisco before returning to Fresno to continue her litigation practice, including at a local non-profit law agency. She later transitioned to advisory, investigative, and transactional work with a state-wide education law firm and served as in-house counsel for a family of companies in Fresno, expanding her expertise in private sector employment, business, and higher education law. Before founding Shankar Legal Inc., Inna Shankar served as a founding shareholder of a business and employment law firm in 2018, where she played an integral role in building its foundation and guiding its growth.

Awards & Recognition

Ms. Shankar was named one of Fresno’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2018.

Languages

Fluent in Russian.

Community Connections

A Fresno native and Clovis West High School graduate, Ms. Shankar returned to the Central Valley after college and law school to make a meaningful impact in her community. She is married to her husband, Hareesh, and they have two sons. Passionate about giving back, she has served on the boards of Valley Animal Center, a no-kill cat and dog rescue, and a local private preschool

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