Bill Fallon is a Member of the firm and has been practicing law since 1981.  He represents employers in employment and labor matters including litigation.  Best Lawyers® named him the “Lawyer of the Year” for Employment Law – Management in Grand Rapids in both 2018 and 2017, and the 2012 “Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation – Labor & Employment in Grand Rapids.

Mr. Fallon partners with clients to achieve creative, constructive solutions to their most difficult employment-related challenges, in and out of court.  Mr. Fallon assists employers who face the specialized employment issues that arise in many different industries and occupations, including health care, manufacturing, information technology, trucking, distribution, retail, service, higher education, and the professions.

Labor and Employment Law Experience
Mr. Fallon works daily with clients to develop sound strategies for anticipating and resolving the endless variety of workplace legal issues: discrimination, harassment, disabilities, accommodations, FMLA management, discipline, overtime, union organizing, handbooks, employment agreements, and more.  He equips employers with the legal and strategic knowledge they need to make employment decisions based on their organizational values, culture and goals, not out of fear of legal claims.

Employment Litigation Experience
When a case goes to court, Mr. Fallon partners with the client in strategic decisions to ensure the case is managed based on the client’s business objectives; no case takes on a life of its own.  In hundreds of employment cases, Mr. Fallon has an established track record of consistent success, with outright dismissals, wins at trial and on appeal, and favorable settlements.  These include claims of discrimination, disability accommodation, harassment, wrongful discharge, retaliation, breach of contract, sales commission disputes, grievance arbitrations, and more.  Mr. Fallon also has extensive experience in non-compete, trade secrets, and employee embezzlement cases.

Some examples of Mr. Fallon’s recent cases:

• Two nurses filed discrimination suits against the hospital where they worked. They alleged that a patient refused to be treated by African-American caregivers and that the hospital honored that request.  With great collaboration between our client and our legal team, our client obtained a complete victory in these very challenging cases – including success on appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• An engineer filed a novel federal lawsuit claiming that a complex mental disorder accounted for his performance problems. He alleged that our client violated the ADA by failing to accommodate his disability and by terminating his employment.  The strategy for this case included the effective development of psychiatric testimony, and successfully undermining the extensive medical evidence presented by the plaintiff.  The court ruled in favor of our client on every issue, the victory was affirmed on appeal, and substantial costs were assessed against the plaintiff.
• In a race discrimination case, a global manufacturing company was accused of widespread discrimination against minorities. Fallon worked with the client to establish a case strategy that resulted in the case being dismissed outright.  The win was affirmed on appeal.

Professional Affiliations, Activities and Honors
Mr. Fallon is active in a number of professional and business organizations. He serves on the State Bar of Michigan’s Standing Committee on Character & Fitness. He is a member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) and the Economic Club of Grand Rapids.

Mr. Fallon served six years on Miller Johnson’s Management Committee, three years as the firm’s General Counsel, and several years as the chair of the Firm’s Labor and Employment Section and in other leadership roles.

He is a director and past board chair of Thresholds, Inc., a nonprofit agency serving individuals with developmental disabilities.  As a member of the American Inns of Court he mentored younger lawyers for several years.  He served on the board of directors and two years as president of the Grand Rapids Amateur Hockey Association, and has coached many youth hockey, softball, and soccer teams.  He served many years on the board of directors of the Gerald R. Ford Council of the Boy Scouts of America; as a trustee and president of the St. Thomas Education Foundation; and as a trustee of the Grand Rapids Art Museum.  He is a member of the Grand Rapids Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the Catholic Lawyers Association of Western Michigan.

Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, named Mr. Fallon as the “Lawyer of the Year” for Employment Law – Management in Grand Rapids in both 2018 and 2017, and as the 2012 “Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation – Labor & Employment in Grand Rapids. He is named in “The Best Lawyers in America®” for employment law – management, labor law – management, litigation – labor and employment, and closely held companies and family business law.  He is a Michigan “Super Lawyer” for employment and labor.

Education
Mr. Fallon received his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981, a master of science from the University of Wisconsin in 1978, and his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 1977.