Assistant City Attorney
General Counsel

Jim McNeill joined the City Attorney’s Office in 2018, assuming the positions of Assistant City Attorney, Administration Division, and the Office’s General Counsel. Prior to joining the Office, Jim was a partner in an international law firm practicing for twenty years in the areas of employment and business law, serving for many years as chair of that firm’s west coast employment practice. In his practice, Jim provided litigation and employment counseling services to a wide range of clients, from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and local government entities. Jim has extensive experience in defending all manner of class action litigation and in all areas of employment litigation, including the defense of wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and disability claims. Over his legal career, Jim served as the national class action counsel for a major retailer litigating dozens of class actions across the country, trial counsel in the successful defense of multiple coordinated state-wide class actions against the use of automated red-light camera enforcement systems, and defended a large networking company in multiple coordinated patent infringement cases, obtaining a complete defense verdict and over $8 million in post-trial sanctions for the plaintiff company’s discovery abuses. Additionally, Jim provided his clients with day-to-day counseling on employment and general human resources best practices to ensure legal compliance with various local, state and federal laws, as well as developing and presenting training programs and conducting internal investigations.

Jim received B.S. and M.S. degrees from San Diego State University, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from California Western School of Law.