Sara D. Williams is a litigation associate in Gibson Dunn’s San Francisco office, where she practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and Labor and Employment Practice Group. Her practice focuses on employment litigation and counseling, as well as complex commercial disputes and government investigations.
Sara represents employers in federal and state courts in single-plaintiff disputes and putative class and representative actions involving discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, worker classification, wage-and-hour, and California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims. She handles matters from early case assessment through dispositive briefing and counsels employers on sensitive personnel matters, including executive and employee separations, compensation disputes, reductions in force, and employment policies and handbooks.
Her representative experience includes:
- Defending technology companies against putative wage-and-hour class and PAGA actions alleging worker misclassification, including briefing motions to compel arbitration and motions to dismiss.
- Serving as lead associate for a major energy company in sensitive federal employment litigation, including drafting key motions and directing discovery and case strategy.
- Leading internal investigations of employee complaints involving alleged discrimination, retaliation, and harassment.
- Directing large-scale document review and production in response to government subpoenas and advising clients on response strategy, privilege, and data privacy.
- Representing a leading aircraft company in bet-the-company litigation involving trade secret and defamation claims.
Sara maintains an active pro bono practice focused on civil rights and constitutional litigation. She was a principal drafter of a successful motion for summary judgment that resolved nearly all claims in her clients’ favor and has led teams that obtained default judgments in significant federal litigation.
Sara previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jesus G. Bernal of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2020, where she was a Senior Editor of the UCLA Law Review, Class President, and Co-Chair of OUTLaw. She won First Place in both the Dean’s Brief Writing Competition and the 1L Moot Court Competition. She currently serves on the Board of UCLA Law Women LEAD.
Sara earned her B.A., cum laude, from the University of California, Davis in 2017, with majors in History and Political Science. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received departmental awards in both fields.
Sara is admitted to practice in California.
Capabilities
Credentials
Education:
- University of California, Los Angeles - 2020 Juris Doctor
- University of California, Davis - 2017 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- California Bar
Clerkships:
- USDC, Central District of California, Hon. Jesus G. Bernal, 2023 - 2024