Current Employment Position(s)

Partner, since 1992

Year Joined Organization: 1984

Lawyer Overview

GMSR partner Tim Coates has been with the firm from almost the beginning, and in over twenty years has briefed and argued more than 250 matters in the state and federal appellate courts, ranging from the California Court of Appeal and California Supreme Court to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, as well as the United States Supreme Court. Tim devotes a substantial portion of his practice to representing public entities in a wide variety of matters, including tort liability, land use, inverse condemnation, public utility regulation, labor and employment proceedings, with a particular emphasis on federal civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. 1983. Tim has lectured and published articles on civil rights topics for the Practicing Law Institute, Matthew Bender Publications and Lorman Educational Services, and is co-author of the chapter on federal civil rights liability in the CEB publication California Government Tort Liability Practice (4th ed. 2004). He has also represented managed care organizations and other healthcare providers in medical malpractice actions, breach of contract and bad faith claims, and regulatory matters under the Medicare and Medicaid Acts.

Tim's broad federal appellate practice has also included cases concerning trademark and copyright, interpretation of collective bargaining agreements under the Labor Management Relations Act and claims under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Among the highlights of Tim's career are his two arguments before the United States Supreme Court, most recently in <a href="http://www.gmsr.com/practice_case.cfm?id_case=135225"><i>John Van de Kamp, et al. v. Thomas Lee Goldstein</i> (2009) 2009 U.S. LEXIS 1003</a> and earlier in <a href="http://www.gmsr.com/practice_case.cfm?id_case=1001" ><i>County of Riverside v. McLaughlin</i>, 500 U.S. 44 (1991)</a>, an experience he recounted in the article <i>First Arguments at the Supreme Court of the United States, a Collection of Essays</i> for The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, Volume 5/Number 1, Spring 2003. The title of Tim's essay <a href="article/I%20Couldnt%20Wait%20to%20Argue.pdf"target="_blank"><i>I Couldn't Wait To Argue</i></a> succinctly summed up Tim's delight with the experience and enthusiasm for appellate advocacy and oral argument in particular.

Tim has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer in the area of appellate practice for 2007, 2008 and 2009. The Los Angeles Daily Journal included Tim in its list of the <a href="http://www.gmsr.com/article/dj092309.pdf"><i>Top 100 Lawyers in California for 2009</i></a>, describing Tim as a go-to lawyer for a major federal appeal.

Tim is a native Californian. He received his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Southern California in 1979 and his law degree from the UCLA School of Law in 1983, where he was a primary editor of the UCLA-Alaska Law Review. Prior to turning to law, Tim honed his verbal skills as a studio tour guide, standup comedian and labor union official. He is an avid reader, with a particular interest in history, and devotes most of his spare time to family activities with his wife and three children.

Areas of Practice

• Appellate Law
• Anti-SLAPP Law
• Business Litigation
• Constitutional Law
• Government Tort Liability
• Healthcare Law
• Tort Litigation

Representative Cases

• Net2Phone, Inc. v. Superior Court, 109 Cal.App.4th 583 (2003)
• Plattner v. City of Riverside , 69 Cal.App.4th 1441 (1999)
• Corder v. Gates, 947 F.2d 374 (9th Cir 1991)
• Corder v. Gates, 25 F.3d 883 (9th Cir 1994)
• Corder v. Gates, 104 F.3d 247 (9th Cir. 1996)
• County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44, 111 S. Ct. 1661, 114 L. Ed. 2d 49 (1991)
• County of Los Angeles v. Superior Court , 222 Cal.App.3d 647 (1990)

West Practice Categories

Business & Commercial Law, Constitutional Law, Federal Employer's Liability Act (FELA) -- Employee, Health & Health Care Law, Litigation & Appeals, Federal Appellate Practice, State Appellate Practice, US Supreme Court, State, Local & Municipal Law

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Los Angeles County Bar Association (Appellate Courts Committee)
• American Bar Association, State and Local Government Law Section (Government Operations and Liability Committee)
• American Bar Association, State and Local Government Law Section (Civil Rights/First Amendment Liability Subcommittee)
• Federal Bar Association, Appellate Practice Section
• California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Two (Settlement Officer)

Honors and Awards

• Daily Journal's Annual Top 100 California Lawyers, 2009
• Southern California Super Lawyers (Appellate), 2007 - 2009

Classes and Seminars

• Success on Appeal: Advice From Appellate Counsel, Questions an Appellate Lawyer Would Ask and You Should Ask When Taking or Defending an Appeal, County Counsels' Association of California Annual Conference, 2006
• The Bread and Butter Defenses: A Short Overview of the Claims Statute and Immunities, Los Angeles County Counsel, 2005
• Litigating and Settling Section 1983 Fee Claims, Lorman Educational Services, San Diego, California, 2002
• Hot Issues in Section 1983 Litigation, Lorman Educational Services, San Diego, California, 2002
• Panelist, Civil Writs in the California Courts of Appeal, California State Bar Convention
• Panelist, The Human Rights Act: The Practical Implications For British Policing - Learning From The U.S. Experience, London, England
• Panelist, Recent Developments In Police Civil Liability Litigation, 1999
• Appellate Practice for Public Entities, California County Counsel Association Annual Conference, Fall, 1994

Past Employment Positions

• Parkinson, Wolf, Lazar & Leo, 1983 - 1984

Education

• UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, California, 1983
  Doctor of Jurisprudence
  
  Law Review: UCLA - Alaska Law Review
• University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 1979
  A.B.
  Honors: summa cum laude
  Honors: Phi Beta Kappa
  Major: English

Published Works

• Consultant, Obtaining, Enforcing and Defending Sanctions in State and Federal Courts, CEB, 1997
• Federal Civil Rights Act (Co-Author), CEB, California Government Tort Liability Practice, 4th ed., 1999
• Unwelcome Contribution, Los Angeles Lawyer, March 2000), 2000
• I Couldn't Wait to Argue First Arguments at the Supreme Court of the United States, a Collection of Essays, The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, Volume 5/Number 1, Spring 2003, 2003

Address

5900 Wilshire Boulevard
12th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Phones

(310) 859-7811

Faxes

(310) 276-5261

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.gmsr.com
http://www.greinesmartin.com