Passion. Vision. People.

Our Firm History

With more than 1,900 attorneys worldwide, Littler is the largest law practice exclusively devoted to representing management in employment, employee benefits and labor law matters. 

About Littler

Pioneering beginnings

In 1942, Robert Littler, at that time the Pacific Coast director of the National War Labor Board, and Thomas Coakley, until then a California deputy attorney general, formed the first law firm in the San Francisco Bay area to focus exclusively on representing employers in labor and employment law matters. Arthur Mendelson joined the firm in 1944.

By the 1960s, the firm saw rapid business development with expanding unionization and other employment law changes in northern California. With the addition of Wesley Fastiff and others, Littler was particularly qualified to meet these needs. The firm represented companies in a wide variety of industries, including numerous trucking companies, with Fastiff handling many landmark cases nationwide. With the passage of civil rights legislation and other new employment laws, many of the firm’s attorneys successfully represented and defended employers in civil rights, wrongful termination, workplace safety and employee benefits disputes, in addition to a continued representation of clients in traditional labor law matters.

By the end of the 1970s, Littler had grown to 50 attorneys servicing employers from offices strategically located in California, providing effective representation of employer interests in union-related matters and the ever-growing area of employment law regulation. Beginning in the 1990s, in response to a greater employer need for its focused practice and advice, the firm expanded nationwide, establishing dozens of offices and adding hundreds of attorneys throughout the country to best serve employers no matter their geographic location.

Arthus Mendelson and Wes Fastiff

 

Growth and Expansion

  • 1940s and 1950s

    Firm is founded, making its mark as the first law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area to focus on management-side representation.

  • 1960s

    Rapid growth with expanding unionization and new employment laws. Represented diverse industries, including landmark cases nationwide.

  • 1970s

    Grew to 50 attorneys in California, effectively representing employers in union-related and employment law matters.

  • 1990s

    Expanded nationwide, establishing dozens of offices and adding hundreds of attorneys to serve employers across the country.

  • 2000s

    Introduced Littler CaseSmart, an award-winning platform integrating technology, talent and legal project management for efficient and cost-effective legal services. The firm also rolls out Littler onDemand.

  • 2010s

    Began international expansion with offices in Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, Europe and Asia. Today, Littler has global offices spanning four continents.

A pattern of blue dots depicts the shape of continents on a light blue background

Local, everywhere

With the globalization of the economy and the growth of multinational labor and employment law needs, Littler began expanding internationally. In October 2010, Littler opened its 50th office and its first international location in Caracas, Venezuela.

Littler broadened its global services by opening two offices in Mexico in 2012 and has since expanded throughout the Americas with offices across the Latin American region, including its latest in Brazil in 2020. In 2015, the firm moved into Canada, opening an office in Toronto, and entered the European market shortly thereafter by combining with leading labor and employment law boutiques in Germany (2015), France (2016), the United Kingdom (2017), Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium (2018), Norway (2019), Austria (2020), Poland and Spain (2020), Ireland and Portugal (2021), and Denmark and Switzerland (2022). Another important milestone in Littler’s global expansion strategy was reached in 2019 with the opening of a regional office in Singapore – the firm’s first in Asia. Today, Littler’s global offices span four continents, providing multinational employers with legal representation in the areas of cross-border employment issues, labor relations, dispute resolution and litigation.
Littler CaseSmart screenshot on tablet

Fueled by innovation, inspired by you

With the advent of new technology platforms and the demands of a changing legal market in the early to mid-2000s, Littler introduced its first innovative product to the market, changing the way it delivers legal services to clients. The firm’s award-winning Littler CaseSmart platform is an integrated solution of technology, talent and legal project management that offers immediate benefits in terms of cost, efficiency and risk management for the defense of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges and single-plaintiff employment litigation. Since the launch of Littler CaseSmart, the firm has rolled out a suite of other innovative products and service lines to give employers technologically sophisticated options for confronting an ever-changing and increasingly complex legal environment.

With offices around the world, more than 1,900 labor and employment attorneys provide the firm’s clients with representation and daily advice on virtually all areas of labor and employment law.

Littler is the largest law practice in the world exclusively devoted to representing management in employment, employee benefits and labor law matters.