Brian L. Williams joined Baron & Budd’s Opioid Litigation Group in 2020, bringing with him nearly three decades of diverse legal and investigative experience. Dedicated to justice and finding the truth, he now works to help cities, counties and states hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable for the national opioid crisis. Prior to joining Baron & Budd, Mr. Williams served as an Assistant Colorado Attorney General in the Department of Law’s first-in-the-nation Opioid Unit, where he investigated the marketing, distribution and sales practices of the nation’s leading opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Early in his career, Mr. Williams served as a prosecutor and commercial litigator in Central Minnesota, where he gained invaluable trial experience litigating both civil and criminal matters. Later, while a partner of two Minneapolis class action law firms, he investigated the malfeasance of countless domestic and international corporations, ultimately helping plaintiffs recover billions of dollars in some of the world’s largest and most complex antitrust, securities, and consumer fraud class action cases, including In re Broadcom Corp. Sec. Litig. (C.D. Cal.), In re Pharmaceutical Industry Average Wholesale Price Litig. (D. Mass.), and In re TFT-LCD Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.).
Prior to relocating to Colorado in 2017, Mr. Williams supervised and mentored a highly qualified team of investigators and attorneys as Manager of the Occupational Licensing Division of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. In that capacity, he also served as general counsel to the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice.
When not working remotely from his office in the Colorado foothills, Mr. Williams enjoys traveling with family, hiking, skiing, attending outdoor concerts and festivals (Red Rocks, anyone?), developing board games, and rooting for his favorite Colorado, Minnesota, and Texas sports teams.
Publications
- Case Note, “An Attack on Fourth Amendment Protection: Security Guards and the “Private” Search Doctrine”, State v. Buswell, 18 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 175 (1992)
Education
Mitchell Hamline School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota (J.D., cum laude, 1992)
St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota (B.A. 1989)
Bar and Court Admissions
Colorado State Bar
Minnesota State Bar
United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit