January 27, 2020 (Los Angeles) – Partner Bart Williams has been recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the most influential minority attorneys of the year. For the second consecutive year, Bart will be joining a group of 50 top lawyers in LA who exhibit excellence in their practice areas.
Bart is one of the nation’s most sought after trial lawyers, with experience in a wide array of commercial litigation as well as white collar criminal defense and internal corporate investigations. He has served as lead trial counsel for top companies facing the most significant litigation that could make or break their business. Sometimes he handles cases from start to finish – and other times he is called in just months or even weeks before a trial to deliver the win.
Most recently, Bart represented the so-called “Power 5 Conferences” (Pac 12, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and SEC) in the trial of a high profile class action brought by current and former NCAA Division I football and basketball players. The players filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA and eleven collegiate athletic conferences challenging the limits on compensation and benefits for student-athletes. He was also was trial counsel in a California lawsuit regarding an alleged causal link between talcum powder and ovarian cancer. This bellwether case—the first (and so far, only) talc/ovarian cancer case to be tried in the California talc JCCP—was brought by a 63-year old woman claiming that J&J’s Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower products had caused or contributed to the development of her ovarian cancer. The trial initially resulted in a plaintiff verdict, but in October 2017, Hon. Maren Nelson granted the J&J defendants’ motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and entered judgment in favor of J&J.
Named a Sports & Entertainment Trailblazer by The National Law Journal, Bart is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has an impressive list of victories under his belt in jury and bench trials throughout the United States. A leader within the Firm, Bart is a member of the Firm’s seven-member Executive Committee and serves as head of Proskauer’s Los Angeles office.