William F. Dugan

William (Bill) F. Dugan is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Employment and Compensation Practice Group, residing in Chicago and New York, and chair of the US Disputes Employment Group and co-chair of the North American Employment Disputes Group.

Bill represents management in complex litigation in federal and state courts and other tribunals throughout the United States, including trade secret and restrictive covenant matters, class and collective actions, and labor arbitrations. Bill also counsels employers on a wide range of Labor and Employment issues.

Bill has extensive experience representing management in complex litigation before federal and state courts, administrative agencies and other tribunals throughout the United States. He routinely litigates against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, defending clients in high-profile systemic cases, as well as class and collective actions under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and state wage hour laws.

Among his various class and collective actions, Bill has successfully defended a race pay and promotion class action against a significant not-for-profit; the largest gender pay and promotion case ever brought by the EEOC; the largest class pay and promotion class arbitration ever filed by the private plaintiffs’ bar; Title III class litigation involving hundreds of stores for major retailers; and class actions involving independent insurance agents nationwide.

Bill also has significant trial experience, including a multi-plaintiff race discrimination and harassment lawsuit litigated for nine weeks to verdict before a Detroit, Michigan jury; a multi-plaintiff sex harassment and retaliation lawsuit litigated to verdict before a Chicago, Illinois jury; a breach of contract lawsuit litigated to verdict before an Ann Arbor, Michigan jury; the first sexual orientation lawsuit tried to verdict in Illinois; and an unfair labor practice hearing wherein nearly 100 unfair labor practice charges were litigated to verdict over 48 hearing days in Syracuse, New York.

Education:

• University of Notre Dame Law School (J.D. cum laude) (1995)
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.A.) (1992)

Admissions:

• Illinois~United States
• New York~United States
• U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit~United States
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit~United States
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky~United States
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan~United States
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana~United States
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio~United States

Representative Legal Matters:

• Betts, et al. v. Costco Wholesale Corporation (E.D. MI). Multi-plaintiff race discrimination and harassment suit tried to verdict over nine weeks.
• Copp, et al. v. American Enterprise Services Co. et al. (S.D. IA). Defeated class certification in breach of contract and FCRA suit involving 9,000 putative class members.
• EEOC v. Sterling Jewelers Inc. (W.D. NY). Represented client in largest EEOC pay and promotion sex discrimination case involving 77,000 individuals.
• Jock, et al. v. Sterling Jewelers Inc. (AAA). Title VII and EPA class and collective action with over 77,000 putative class members for alleged gender discrimination in pay and promotions.