Bill’s practice focuses on prosecuting actions to enforce civil rights laws, including laws that prohibit exclusion and discrimination on the basis of disability.
Prior Experience
Lewis Feinberg Lee Renaker & Jackson, P.C.
Oakland, CA
Shareholder, 2007-2015
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, L.L.P.
San Francisco, CA
Partner, 2001-2006
Columbia Law School
New York, NY
Visiting Scholar, 2001
United States Department of Justice
Washington, D.C.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, 1997-2001
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
Los Angeles, CA
Western Regional Counsel, 1988-1997
Center for Law in the Public Interest
Los Angeles, CA
Supervising Attorney for Civil Rights Litigation, 1983-1988
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
New York, NY
Assistant Counsel, 1974-1982
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
New York, NY
Volunteer Counsel, 1979-1980
Fordham University
New York, NY
Adjunct Professor of Political Science, 1977-1980
Education
J.D., Columbia Law School, 1974, Stone Scholar, Best Moot Court Brief prize
B.A. in History, Yale College, 1971, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude
Selected Publications
Book Review, In Search of Equality, The Chinese Struggle Against Discrimination in Nineteenth Century America by Charles J. McClain, 21 Amerasia Journal 205, 1995.
For Affirmative Action, Richmond Decision is a Detour, Not a Dead End, Op Ed, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 8, 1989, at p. 7 (with Jack Greenberg).
The Disparate Impact Model and Subjective Criteria in Employment Discrimination Litigation, 5 Labor & Employment Law News, Spring 1986 (with Pearl Lattaker).
A Right to An Integrated Education: A Survey, 14 Urban Lawyer 423, 1982.
Eliminating Barriers to Communications Between Class Action Counsel and Members in Actions Brought Pursuant to Rule 23, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Report of the Committee on Civil Rights of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 1980.
Racial Discrimination in the United States, Helsinki Watch Committee, 1980.
Yung Wing and the Americanization of China, 1 Amerasia Journal 25, 1971.
State Bar License
California