Amanda Hawes is a partner in the San Jose law firm of Alexander, Hawes & Audet where her legal specialty is cancer and birth defects claims for chemically - exposed workers and their children. A 1968 Harvard Law School graduate, Ms. Hawes was a legal services attorney for nine years, first in the law reform unit of San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance and then the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County, where her health and safety legal advocacy began on behalf of women and minority workers in the canning industry. As the canneries closed and her clients became electronics workers she turned to the hazards of the so-called "clean industry" and has become nationally recognized for her health and safety advocacy for semiconductor workers and their families. She is a co-founder of SCCOSH, Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and Health, serving on the Board from 1977-1992 and 1996-present and as Executive Director 1992-1996.