A local criminal defence lawyer is shifting the focus of her practice to address the rising number of cases involving harassment and misconduct in the workplace.

Rosellen Sullivan has launched a new firm, Sullivan Investigative Insights, after practicing criminal law for the last two decades.

She says after 20 years she thought it was a good time to branch out and try something different.

Sullivan says many employers try to address serious workplace matters internally, only to find that they may have to take it further.

That’s where she steps in.

She says in cases involving sexual harassment and harassment, “there are so many nuances in terms of relationship dynamics, and even the internal HR people’s relationship dynamics to the parties, so often times you get so far down the road before you realize, ‘oh dear’ we probably should have gone outside for this.'”