About Jeffrey

Jeff Bils has extensive knowledge of the issues employers and managers face, based on his professional background before he became an attorney.  Bils was an editor in the local news departments of the Chicago Tribune and the Fresno Bee, and a reporter at various newspapers, including one summer at the Frankfurter Rundschau in Germany.  During these years, Bils developed well-honed research, writing and interviewing skills that continue to be useful to his practice.  He has management experience and also is a former business owner, having co-founded a non-emergency medical transportation company that was a Medi-Cal provider.

Bils’ experience includes counseling business owners and executives on a range of federal, state and local employment law issues, reviewing handbooks and policies, and representing employers in litigation and other disputes.  He has drafted pleadings, motions, mediation briefs, position statements, discovery responses, and settlement agreements.  He has appeared in court and in agency proceedings on behalf of employers.

In particular, Bils was part of a team defending employers against wage and hour class actions and California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) collective actions.  He also investigated complaints and defended employers in actions filed with the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing (DFEH), the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

While is law school, Bils was selected to participate in the First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic taught by Professor Eugene Volokh and served as senior editor for the UCLA Law Review, as well as articles editor for the UCLA Entertainment Law Review.  Bils served as a judicial extern both in United States District Court and United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

Areas of Practice

Education

UCLA School of Law, ranked 7th in graduating class, 2014

• UCLA Law Review, senior editor
• Entertainment Law Review, articles editor

Pepperdine University School of Law, J.D. candidate, 2012 (transferred to UCLA School of Law)

University of Wisconsin-Madison, bachelor’s degree in journalism and German, Phi Beta Kappa, 1988

• Honors thesis
• Abraham S. Burack Scholarship

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany, junior year abroad, 1986-87

Extern to Judge Consuelo Bland Marshall, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Spring 2013

Extern to Judge Sandra R. Klein, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California, Summer 2012

Publications

“PAGA Priorities Should Become Clearer in 2018,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, January 19, 2018

“David’s Sling: How to Give Copyright Owners a Practical Way to Pursue Small Claims,” UCLA Law Review, February 2015

“Fighting Unfair Credit Reports: A Proposal to Give Consumers More Power to Enforce the Fair Credit Reporting Act,” UCLA Law Review Discourse, October 2013

Presentations

“Mindfulness Tools for Lawyers: Counsel, Clients and Conscience,” moderator, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Labor & Employment Law Section, November 2017

“President Trump – The First 100 Days - What Attorneys and Their Clients Should Know,” moderator, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Labor & Employment Law Section, May 2017

Professional Affiliations/Leadership/Awards

Beverly Hills Bar Association, Labor & Employment Law Section, 2017 - present

• Secretary of Executive Committee

Civic Activities

BNI Team Builders, Los Angeles, California, 2017 - present