Timothy G. Williams began working in the labor/employment field in 1994. As an attorney in California since 1999, Tim has represented a broad range of clients in litigation—individuals, classes of workers and consumers, small businesses, and large corporations—including in complex and high-stakes cases, and is regularly retained as lead counsel in high stakes litigation involving seven- and eight-figure disputes. Tim has worked extensively advising California employers of all sizes on employment law compliance issues and provides counseling and advice. Tim has also worked with numerous executives on employment and separation agreements.
Tim is recognized by clients and peers for his successes and vast experience. Each year, Tim authors and updates employment law treatises and practice guides for attorneys, and regularly speaks at seminars to train other employment lawyers on advanced practice skills.
Tim’s practice focuses on federal and California employment laws, including wage-and-hour, discrimination, harassment, and separation/termination matters. He has considerable knowledge with minimum wage, overtime, expense reimbursement, and misclassification issues, having litigated scores of such cases over 20 years. In particular, Tim has extensive experience litigating dozens of complex/class actions in federal and state courts throughout California on behalf of employees/consumers and employers/businesses in trial and appellate courts. Tim has litigated hundreds of cases in various federal and state courts at trial and on appeal, in arbitration and mediation, and state administrative proceedings including with the California Labor Commissioner.
For nearly 20 years, Tim has also advised scores of employers on all facets of federal and California employment law “best practices.” This has included drafting, reviewing, and revising handbooks, policies, procedures; advising employers on investigations and audits; and providing extensive wage-and-hour compliance advice, including regarding all types of exemptions. Tim has also provided counseling, advice, and training to managers and executives on a variety of mandatory and preventative employment law issues.
Tim is a graduate of the University of Southern California, and of South Texas College of Law. He has also completed a program for advanced mediation training with Pepperdine University. In 1996, Tim became licensed to practice law in Texas. In 1997, he passed the California bar. Tim became a partner in the firm in 2003.
Tim has achieved the highest possible (“AV”) rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the authoritative resource for information on the world wide legal profession. This AV rating indicates very high to preeminent legal ability and very high professional standards of conduct, ethics, reliability and diligence as established by confidential opinions from both judges and members of the bar. He has also been selected each year since 2009 as an employment SuperLawyer, a distinguished award given to only a small percentage of attorneys in certain specialties around the country. Tim has also been selected as one of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers in repeated years.
Tim is active in various bar associations, including the American Bar Association and State Bar of California and their sections on Labor & Employment, as well as the San Diego County Bar Association and its Labor & Employment Law Section as a past Co-Chair. Tim volunteers with Lawyers Club of San Diego, an attorney organization dedicated to advancing the status of women in the law and society. Tim is also an alumni of the Louis M. Welch Chapter of the American Inns of Court, a nationwide association of judges and lawyers committed to the preservation of ethics and civility in the practice of law.
Tim devotes time as a volunteer to local, state and national law school functions and bar organizations, including at the University of San Diego employment law clinic. Tim has spent significant volunteering with youth sports activities in his community, is a two-time marathon finisher and has completed nine half-marathon races including running to raise money for charitable organizations.
Published decisions:
- Prince, et. al. v. CLS Limo, et al. (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 1320 (Plaintiffs’ Counsel).
- Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 53 Cal.4th 1004 (Amici Curiae).
- In 2016, Tim was appointed by the California Employment Lawyers Association to write an amicus brief in the matter of Quiles/Turman v. Koji’s Japan, Inc., which was accepted and filed in June 2016, and cited in the Court’s opinion on November 7, 2017; Tim was then selected to write CELA’s request for publication letter, resulting in publication of the case at 17 Cal.App.4th 969.
- Pataky v. Brigantine, Inc. (S.D. Cal., Jan. 14, 2019, No. 317CV352GPCAGS) 2019 WL 183583 (Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel)
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Moorer v. StemGenex Medical Group, Inc. (S.D. Cal., June 25, 2019, No. 16-CV-2816-AJB-NLS) 2019 WL 2602536 (Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel At Class Certification Oral Argument)