J. Gary Gwilliam
About J. Gary Gwilliam
J. Gary Gwilliam is the Founding Partner of the firm and is widely regarded as one of the top consumer trial attorneys in California. He has tried over 180 jury cases, of which nearly 150 were plaintiff civil personal injury matters, covering automobile and construction accidents, products liability, medical malpractice, civil rights including police misconduct, and employment discrimination. A noted lecturer and speaker, he has conducted seminars across California and the country for many years and has authored numerous articles on California consumer law. He is frequently called upon to serve as an expert witness on attorney standard of care. In January 2025, he received the inaugural Legend of The Law Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alameda Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association. Earlier in his career he served as Chief Trial Deputy in the Ventura County District Attorney's Office before entering private practice.
Notable case results
One hundred twenty-nine former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory workers, most of them over 50, shared a $37.25 million settlement after a series of jury trials established that the lab breached their employment contracts during a 2008 mass layoff that followed privatization of the facility.
Stanislaus County agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle a federal civil rights suit brought by criminal defense attorney Frank Carson's estate and seven co-plaintiffs who were acquitted after a years-long murder conspiracy prosecution. The firm served as co-lead trial counsel, representing four of the eight plaintiffs and negotiating roughly $12 million of the total; Morrison & Foerster represented the other four.
A Contra Costa County jury awarded Sherrill Smothers $6.1 million after finding General Motors 80% liable for the defective roof design of his 1984 Corvette, which collapsed during a 1988 rollover and left him a quadriplegic.
An Alameda County jury awarded $2.73 million to five test plaintiffs after finding that Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC violated its own inverse-seniority layoff policy when it cut more than 400 workers in 2008.
Gwilliam Ivary filed suit in Alameda County on behalf of roughly 50 UCSF information technology employees who were laid off after the university contracted with India-based HCL Technologies, alleging the replacement workforce was dramatically younger and drawn from a single national origin.
Jury verdict for a 29-year-old man who suffered quadriplegic injuries when the roof of his Corvette was crushed in a rollover accident; largest single injury verdict in Contra Costa County history at the time
Jury verdict for a 19-year-old man who suffered severe hand injuries from a press machine at work; largest hand injury verdict in the United States and largest single injury verdict in Alameda County history at the time
Jury verdict for the family of a man killed by police officers when he was threatening suicide; largest police shooting misconduct verdict in Northern California history at the time
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
