Thomas E. Hill
Partner

Overview
Thomas E. Hill is a partner in Holland & Knight's Los Angeles office, a highly accomplished national class action defense attorney, and an experienced trial and appellate lawyer. Mr. Hill has served as lead counsel for some of the largest employers in the country, and done so in more than 600 civil lawsuits filed across 30 states. Mr. Hill has also first-chaired more than 250 adversarial proceedings to decision, including jury, bench and administrative trials and arbitrations. The many Fortune 500 companies that Mr. Hill has represented as lead counsel in class litigation and/or at trial include the most-recognized "brand names" within the financial services, retail, hospitality, healthcare, technology, energy, construction and infrastructure, and gig-economy industries.
A primary focus of Mr. Hill's practice is the defense of complex, high-stakes wage and hour litigation. He has served as lead counsel in more than 125 class, collective and representative actions and, in the process, helped shape California's wage and hour laws. The many cases of first impression that Mr. Hill has argued on appeal have been cited hundreds of times in subsequent published decisions.
Mr. Hill has been named one of the Top 75 employment lawyers in California by the Los Angeles Daily Journal, and recognized annually as a pre-eminent national wage and hour class action attorney by Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA and The Legal 500, among other attorney rating guides.
Mr. Hill also has many years of experience in law firm management as the office managing partner and the national practice group leader and global managing partner of operations for an Am Law 100 law firm.
Employers in a wide range of industries rely on Mr. Hill as a valued partner when seeking practical and seasoned guidance with respect to whistleblower, discrimination, harassment, and wage and hour issues, and as a trusted resource for the most sensitive and complex workplace investigations.
Representative Experience
Credentials
- Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, J.D.
- UCLA, B.A.
- California
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
- Chambers USA – America's Leading Business Lawyers guide, Labor and Employment, 2009-2010, 2016-2024
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Labor Law - Management; Employment Law - Management, 2024-2025; Litigation - Labor and Employment, 2014-2023, 2025
- Southern California Super Lawyers magazine, Employment and Labor, 2004-2022
- Holland & Knight Pro Bono All-Star, 2021
- Los Angeles Business Journal, Leaders of Influence: Litigators & Trial Lawyers, 2020
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Lawyer of the Year, Labor and Employment Litigation, 2015
- The Legal 500 USA, Labor and Employment Disputes (including Collective Action): Defense, 2012-2019
- Los Angeles Daily Journal, Top 75 Labor and Employment Attorneys in California, 2012, 2015-2017