William C. McNeill, III

William C. McNeill, III is the Managing Attorney and Director of the Racial Equality Program at the Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center. Bill has worked as an attorney with the LAS-ELC since 1988 and took over the direction of the organization's impact litigation work ten years later in 1998. He has been involved in civil rights issues for more than 30 years, and has litigated a number of cases designed to advance the rights of minorities, including Fontaine Davis, et al. v. City and County of San Francisco, which resulted in the integration of the fire department, increased opportunities for people of color in hiring and promotions, and the appointment of the first black chief in the city's history. Bill began his legal career in 1971 as a public defender with the Roxbury Defenders Committee in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He subsequently worked as an attorney with the Atlanta Regional Litigation Center for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; director of the Title VII Project at the San Francisco Office of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights; and as regional counsel for California Rural Legal Assistance. He has received two honors from the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. for his work combating employment discrimination. Bill received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1971 and his A.B. in Economics from Oberlin College in 1965. He is a member of the California, Georgia, and Massachusetts Bars.

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