Tim Coffield is a Charlottesville-based attorney who is licensed in Virginia and North Carolina. He founded his legal practice, Coffield PLC, in 2012. Tim takes tremendous pride in his work, not only providing legal services but also educating the public on legal matters. Tim has been an avid writer about law for as long as he has been practicing it. Tim's blogs and videos focus particularly on workers right's case studies and how they could be applied in a trial. In writing and producing videos, Tim believes he can inform the public, and his clients, of what to expect when developing a workers rights case.
As owner and operator of Coffield PLC, Tim Coffield’s primary focus areas include civil litigation, employment and civil rights law, contract disputes, business and estate planning. He has years of experience litigating, managing, and resolving civil cases in federal and state courts. He recently served as co-class counsel in a nationwide employment class action suit, representing a class of plaintiff employees in a contract dispute, Boswell v. Panera Bread Co., 2016 WL 1161573 (E.D. Mo. Mar. 24, 2016). That case recently obtained a multi-million dollar judgment on behalf of the class members. In other recent cases, Tim Coffield utilized his attorney expertise to successfully argue before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, obtaining a partial reversal in a civil rights case, Goines v. Valley Cmty. Servs. Bd., 822 F.3d 159 (4th Cir. 2016), obtained a jury verdict in the Eastern District of Virginia in a case under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Smith v. Loudoun County Public Schools, Case No. 1:15-CV-956, Dkt. No. 128 (E.D. Va. November 15, 2016) and argued successfully before the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals, obtaining a positive result in the aforementioned employee class action.
From day one, Tim has aimed to make Coffield PLC into a practice that is truly defined by its clients, understanding that every person and business has different legal issues, challenges, and opportunities that need to be addressed. Tim Coffield is passionate about crafting personalized and cutting-edge legal strategies for each of his clients.
Earlier in his career, Tim Coffield practiced environmental and natural resources law. First as a law student and later after law school, he worked to address state and federal environmental issues involving clean water laws. He is a former Law Clerk / Law Fellow at Trout Unlimited, where he worked on legal and regulatory matters related to, and produced memoranda on a variety of issues, including regulation of gas pipelines and state water use regulations. He also has experience on the advocacy side, and has collaborated with environmental conservation groups to inform environmental laws and achieve common goals. Since its inception, Coffield PLC has increasingly focused on representing employees, and the majority of its practice is now devoted to representing employees.
As an attorney, Tim Coffield is presently affiliated with numerous professional organizations, including the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Virginia Employment Lawyers Association, and the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association.
In his time as an attorney, Tim Coffield is most proud of his collaboration with attorneys Dennis Egan and Bert Braud of Popham Law Firm. Together, they served as Class Counsel in an employment equity lawsuit against Panera Bread Company and Paneral, LLC. Learn more about the case on the suit’s official website!
Tim Coffield got his B.A. degrees from North Carolina State University in philosophy and English, also studying linguistics and sometimes playing left field for the NCSU baseball team. He then earned his M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Montana, where he also taught undergraduate writing courses. He also worked as a wilderness guide for an adventure psychotherapy program. Before he created Coffield PLC, Tim attended the University of Virginia School of Law to pursue his interests in environmental and natural resources law. He currently lives in Charlottesville, VA.