Bill Lann Lee

Meeting of June 22, 2011 - Disparate Treatment in Hiring

Bill Lann Lee is a Shareholder with Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker, & Jackson, P.C. He specializes in prosecuting employment discrimination and human rights class actions. Prior to joining Lewis Feinberg, in 2007, Lee was a partner at Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein from 2001-2006.

Among the employment discrimination cases that he has prosecuted are national class actions against Abercrombie & Fitch, Best Buy, Cintas, Costco, and McCormick & Schmick's. From 1997-2001, Mr. Lee was the nation's top civil rights prosecutor as Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice in the Clinton Administration.

A Yale College alumnus (1971) and Columbia Law School graduate (1974), Lee was an attorney for 18 years with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the law firm founded by Justice Thurgood Marshall. He headed the Legal Defense Fund's Western Regional Office in Los Angeles.

Mr. Lee chaired the bipartisan National Commission on the Voting Rights Act, which compiled evidence for the successful extension of the Act in July 2006. He also chaired the Bar Association of San Francisco's Task Force that produced a report on diversity in San Francisco law firms.

Mr. Lee is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the California State Bar Diversity Award (2006), ABA Spirit of Excellence Award (2004), Anti-Defamation League Pearlstein Civil Rights Award (2002), the U.S. Department of Justice John Randolph Distinguished Service Award (2001), and the Pioneer Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans (2000). Mr. Lee has also been named a "Northern California Super Lawyer" in the Employment & Labor, Civil Rights/First Amendment category each year from 2004 to the present.