For over 70 years, Littler has been a leader in the area of labor and employment law on a national, and recently, international scale.

Bay Area Beginnings

Littler was founded in 1942 in San Francisco by two lawyers with public service backgrounds. Robert Littler had been the Pacific Coast Director of the War Labor Board, and Thomas Coakley was a deputy attorney general for the State of California.

During the 1940s, a substantial part of the firm's practice involved war-related matters on behalf of employers before the War Labor Board and the Salary Stabilization Commission. Over the next two decades, with the growth of Northern California businesses, increasing unionization and the passage of civil rights legislation, the firm developed a reputation for aggressive representation of management interests in a broad range of matters, from traditional labor work to the expanding field of employment law.

With a client base extending across the state of California, the firm added outposts throughout the Golden State-including Fresno, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento. In the 1980s, the firm began its move east, with the opening of an office in Baltimore. The firm now has an astounding 53 offices nationwide, with a presence in all but a handful of states. Littler also has expanded abroad. The firm opened its first international office in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2010 and opened two Mexico offices in 2012. In October 2013, Littler combined with Colombian law firm Godoy Córdoba Abogados and Costa Rican law firm BDS Asesores under the name "Littler Global." In December 2013, Littler joined with the leading Puerto Rican law firm Schuster Aguiló. In March 2014, BDS Asesores opened a new office in the Dominican Republic, and in May 2014, expanded into Honduras by combining with ISO-certified Ulloa & Associates. In 2015 Littler continued its global expansion with the addition of an office in Toronto, Canada, four offices in Germany, and an office in Managua, Nicaragua, thus rounding out its Central American regionalization process with a presence now in virtually every Central American country.

The firm's ranks have likewise grown significantly. For its first 30 years, Littler had fewer than 10 attorneys. The firm experienced moderate growth in the 1970s, totaling 50 lawyers by the end of that decade. Since that time, the firm has taken growth to another level: it now boasts more than 1,000 attorneys.

Management Only

Littler exclusively represents management, but its clients come in all sizes and industries, from Fortune 500 corporations to mid-sized companies to small, single-office businesses. Airlines, wineries, nonprofit organizations, newspapers, government agencies, healthcare entities, construction companies, and retail chains are just some of the industries that have called on the firm's services.

Littler truly shines with its labor and employment practice, and is constantly recognized for it. In 2016, U.S. News-BestLawyers ranked Littler's employment, labor, and litigation practices as tier 1, named Littler "Law Firm of the Year" in litigation, following a year of winning the same title for its labor law practice. Chambers Global recognized Littler as a Leading Firm in 2016, a new title that followed eleven consecutive years of rankings by Chambers USA as "America's Leading Lawyers for Business."

With an eye on emerging technology, Littler has also branched out from traditional legal counseling and created the Littler Learning Group to provide compliance training materials. The firm offers numerous manuals, videos and workbooks covering a range of employment law issues, such as whistleblowers, arbitration, litigation landmines, diversity and harassment, workplace violence, and general management issues. Additionally, the firm has developed technology driven platforms to change the delivery of legal services, including the Littler CaseSmart platform, Littler X-celerator  ComplianceHR, LaborSmart, and PolicySmart. Littler CaseSmart won the College of Law Practice Management's 2012 InnovAction Award and the International Legal Technology Association's Distinguished Peer Award as the 2011 Project of the Year. Last year Littler launched its Big Data Initiative, hired the firm's first National Director of Data Analytics and garnered a number of accolades by Financial Times "North America Innovative Lawyers" report, winning the overall compliance and technology category for its joint venture ComplianceHR. The firm also earned a "Client Service Innovator of the Year" in 2016 from LegalTech News and The Recorder.

IN THE NEWS

November 2015-June 2016
Just Keeps on Winning

Littler lands on the American Lawyer's Diversity Scorecared and received the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) "Gold Standard Certification" for its sixth consecutive year for the firm's commitment to inclusion and diversity. The firm also earned a perfect score of 100 percent in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index, having earned top marks in the annual study for the eighth consecutive year.

May 2016
Freeing the Fee

Littler received back-to-back recognition by prominent industry publications for its commitment to innovative approaches that solve client problems, enhance quality and reduce costs. The firm earned a "Client Service Innovator of the Year" accolade in Legaltech News and The Recorder's joint Innovation Awards, and was also deemed one of the 22 law firms best at alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) by BTI Consulting Group. Legaltech News and The Recorder recognized Littler based on three new initiatives the firm added to its suite of service solutions in 2015: the Littler Big Data Initiative, ComplianceHR and Littler X-celerator. The firm was also recognized by BTI Consulting Group for its aptitude in developing and implementing alternative fee arrangements.

April 2016
Following the Rules

Approaching the highly anticipated exemption overtime regulations, Littler launched a compliance solution for employers to ensure they adhere to the new rules. The Littler Xmpt Toolkit provides free online access to information that help employers understand these changes by comparing the old and new regulations side by side, and offers a web-based cost estimator to assess the potential costs of reclassification.

August-October 2015
Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

In October Littler Global entered Europe with expansion into Germany, adding leading labor and employment law boutique vangard to its global platform. The combination closely followed the opening of Littler's first Canadian office in Toronto in August. Global expansion has rapidly progressed in recent years through a strategy that includes combining with leading firms in important international markets.

August 2015
Doubling the Data Analysis

Littler hired its first National Director of Data Analytics, Dr. Zev Eigen, who is based in the Los Angeles office. His arrival coincided with the launch of Littler's Big Data Initiative, which provides clients with Big Data strategies and analytics resources designed to benchmark and analyze HR and litigation strategies. Eigen's enhances and expands the firm's Big Data capabilities by assisting clients in developing and implementing legally-compliant data analytic approaches and in analyzing case-filings, staffing, duration, costs and identifying successful and unsuccessful litigation strategies; providing substantive analysis of Littler data and statistical issues that arise in Littler's representation of clients; and working with companies and providers developing data analytic strategies and services focused on the HR and employment law fields.

July 2015
Expanding Along the Equator

Littler Global and Member BDS Asesores established a new office in Managua, Nicaragua. The new office officially concluded Littler Global's Central American regionalization process, which began in El Salvador in 2012. Littler Global is also represented in Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Repbulic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.