Casey is the Chair of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore’s Nonprofit Practice Group and a seasoned nonprofit business and employment attorney based in the firm’s San Francisco office. She helps mission-driven organizations navigate corporate governance, compliance, and employment matters, guiding them through complex legal and organizational challenges.
Casey works with a wide range of nonprofits, including schools, after-school providers, youth advocacy groups, community clinics, social service providers, trade associations, affordable housing providers, fiscal sponsors, arts organizations, museums, and college foundations. She advises on corporate formations, tax-exemption applications, bylaw reviews and board policies, governance best practices and disputes, contracts, mergers, affiliations, and dissolutions. Her expertise includes nonprofit-specific legal issues such as board governance, volunteer management, tax-exemption matters, and crisis management.
With a background in employment litigation, Casey continues to counsel nonprofits on almost every aspect of employment law, including wage and hour compliance, discrimination, disability, leave laws, and employee relations. She also assists with handbooks, policies, executive employment agreements, and sensitive workplace issues such as layoffs, terminations, performance management, and workplace investigations.
Before joining Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, Casey practiced employment and nonprofit law at a business firm in Oakland. She also taught employment law for HR professionals at San Francisco State University’s College of Extended Learning.
Casey externed for the Hon. Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California while in law school. She also served as a production editor for the UC Hastings Science & Technology Law Journal and was a board member of the moot court team.
Professional and Community Involvement
Casey is a member of the California Lawyers Association’s Nonprofit Organizations Committee.
Until 2024, Casey was a member of the Board of Directors at the Unity Council, a Community Development Corporation providing housing, education, and economic opportunities to Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood.
She is a member in good standing of the Alameda County Bar Association, where she served on the Executive Committee of the Barristers Section and as a Commissioner of the Judicial Appointments Evaluation Committee. Casey was also the former Supervising Volunteer Attorney for the Low Income Landlord Clinic and a member of the Board of Directors, of Legal Access Alameda.
JD, UC College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings)
BA, University of California, Berkeley
Nonprofit Affiliation (2024) – Advised a nonprofit on merger risks and strategic considerations. Conducted a thorough due diligence process, drafted key negotiation documents, assessed successor liability issues, and structured an affiliation agreement, resulting in one nonprofit becoming the sole member of the other.
Large-Scale Nonprofit Layoff (2024) – Advised a large nonprofit organization on a workforce reduction affecting over 150 employees. Provided guidance on CalWARN Act compliance, selection criteria, and risk mitigation strategies to ensure legally sound decision-making. Assisted in crafting internal and external communications to minimize legal exposure and maintain stakeholder confidence.
Nonprofit Organization v. Individual Employee (2023) – Secured a five-year workplace restraining order on behalf of a nonprofit against a former program participant. Oversaw associate on matter and led all aspects of the case, including witness preparation, drafting necessary filings, and successfully representing the nonprofit at the hearing.
Nonprofit Spin-Off from Fiscal Sponsor (2020) – Guided a large nonprofit organization through the process of separating from its fiscal sponsor and establishing itself as an independent entity. Assisted with corporate formation, tax-exempt status applications, governance structuring, contract transfers, and financial and operational transition planning to ensure a smooth and legally compliant separation.
Recently published in Nonprofit Pro, LCW Partner Casey Williams and Attorney Nandini Ruparel outline five essential considerations for nonprofit directors when reviewing and approving executive compensation. They emphasize the board’s critical governance role in ensuring compensation aligns...
With wildfires devastating the Los Angeles area, nonprofits that do not normally engage in disaster relief are exploring immediate ways to support their affected employees and community members. This has led to pressing questions about using the nonprofit’s resources, including questions about...
With wildfires devastating the Los Angeles area, schools are exploring immediate ways to support their affected employees and families. This has led to pressing questions about using the school’s resources, including questions about providing grants of direct financial aid, and about helping the...
Recently published in Nonprofit Quarterly, LCW Partner Casey Williams provides expert guidance on how nonprofit boards can confidently navigate the complex task of determining executive compensation. Williams outlines the legal and practical considerations boards must address, including ensuring...
On November 15, 2024, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas blocked the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) recently issued salary rules under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This rule, which took effect on July 1, 2024, raised the minimum salary threshold for employees to...
LCW Partner Casey L. Williams and Senior Counsel Brett A. Overby were recently published in Today’s General Counsel and Today’s Association Executive. Williams and Overby discuss the implementation of AB 590, SB 446 and AB 1185, and how each of these bills support in addressing long standing issues...
LCW Partner Casey L. Williams and Senior Counsel Brett A. Overby were recently published in the Expert Analysis section of Law360 regarding the implementation of AB 590, SB 446 and AB 1185. In their analysis, Williams and Overby discuss how each of these bills support in addressing long standing...
On February 1, 2024, the California Civil Rights Department (“CRD”) issued updated Pay Data Reporting templates, an updated FAQ on Pay Data Reporting (“FAQ”), and an updated User Guide for the CRD’s Pay Data Reporting Portal (“Portal”), all of which employers with 100 or more employees should...
Recently published in NonProfit PRO, LCW attorney Casey Williams writes on the importance of establishing a process to vet volunteers in order to avoid any liability that could come along with a problematic volunteer. “When appropriate background check processes are not in place,” Williams states,...
Recently published in NonProfit PRO, LCW Partner Heather DeBlanc and attorney Casey Williams authored an article titled “5 Governance Tips for Nonprofit Directors” which speaks on best practices for contributing to a healthy governance structure.
To read the full article, please follow...
Associates Casey Williams and Yesenia Z. Carrillo authored the Nonprofit PRO article titled “5 Tips for Nonprofit Leaders to Avoid Claims of Wrongful Termination” which discusses best practices for nonprofits to terminate employees to avoid wrongful termination claims.
The article...
Current law authorizes school districts and community college districts to enter into job order contracts until January 1, 2022. AB 846 extends that authorization to January 1, 2027.
Job order contracting is a procedure that allows for the awarding of contracts based on prices for specific...
In their recent Inside Philanthropy article, “What Nonprofits Need to Know When Deciding Whether to Accept Restricted Donations,” partner Heather DeBlanc and Associates Casey Williams and Victoria M. Gomez Phillips discuss best practices for nonprofit entities relating to donations,...
This bill excludes any school district or community college building or facility that serves, or is intended to serve, as residential housing for faculty or other employees of the school from certain requirements applicable to “school buildings” under the Field Act. Specifically, the Field Act...
Earlier this year, we reported on the much-anticipated Supreme Court decision in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta. The case held as unconstitutional, the State Attorney General’s requirement that nonprofits disclose certain donor information to the State Attorney General as a matter of...
On September 11, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced three revisions it was making to the regulations concerning the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) (29 C.F.R. § 826.) The revised regulations will take effect on September 16, 2020.
The DOL...
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthy workplaces for their employees. On June 18, 2020, the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued guidance, including frequently asked...
On April 24, 2020, the SBA extended a safe harbor to employers who applied for a Payroll Protection Program (“PPP”) loan on or before April 23, 2020 – but who were now questioning whether they could certify in good faith that the loans were needed to support ongoing operations. A PPP loan...
On May 6, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-62-20 establishing “presumptive eligibility” for workers’ compensation benefits to any employee who is directed to report to their place of employment and then subsequently contracts COVID-19 during the time period between March 19 and...
On April 24, 2020, the SBA gave an option to borrowers who applied for a Payroll Protection Program (“PPP”) loan on or before April 23, 2020 – but who were now questioning whether they could make a good faith certification that they needed the loan to support ongoing operations – to...
On April 24, 2020, the SBA gave an option to borrowers who applied for a Payroll Protection Program (“PPP”) loan on or before April 23, 2020 – but who were now questioning whether they could make a good faith certification that they needed the loan to support ongoing operations – to...
On April 23, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued updated guidance concerning the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Rehabilitation Act and how employers may respond to the public health emergency caused by COVID-19. The EEOC makes clear that while the laws...
Note: This is the third Special Bulletin published by LCW in a series concerning federal unemployment assistance. You may access the first bulletin regarding the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (“FPUC”) program here, and the second bulletin regarding the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment...
The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is significant for all of us. The closure of offices, clinics, centers, and other physical locations where nonprofits operate, are drastically altering how nonprofits operate and, in some cases, forcing nonprofits to close operations altogether. ...
Note: This is the second of a two-part series concerning federal unemployment assistance. You may access the first bulletin here.
On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) into law. Under that Act, the federal government...
Note: This is the first of a two-part series concerning federal unemployment assistance.
On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) into law. Under that Act, the federal government established two programs to expand unemployment...
Note: This is the first of a two-part series concerning federal unemployment assistance.
On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) into law. Under that Act, the federal government established two programs to expand unemployment...
Both the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) give eligible employers the opportunity to claim payroll tax credits from the IRS. The purpose of the tax credits is to ease the financial burden of paying qualified...
Both the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) give eligible employers the opportunity to claim payroll tax credits from the IRS. The purpose of the tax credits is to ease the financial burden of paying qualified...
The figures related to the COVID-19 pandemic have become grim in the United States. As of March 30, 2020, at least 160,700 individuals have tested positive for the virus, with approximately 6,800 of those cases in California. As the number of positive COVID-19 cases continue to rise, we...
The advice below addresses many of the questions and scenarios that California nonprofit organizations are facing with regard to employees and the Coronavirus.
Q: Can a nonprofit organization require an employee to stay home from work if the employee has had exposure to the Coronavirus, but no...