Who We Are

Bill Lann Lee

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