Timothy L. Alger

Shareholder

Emerge Law Group

Timothy L. Alger is a civil litigator, mediator, and shareholder at Emerge Law Group.  Formerly the head of litigation, employment law and trademarks at Google and an equity partner at three major international law firms, Mr. Alger has represented leading internet, media, entertainment and advertising companies in regulatory disputes and litigation over trademarks, copyrights, unfair competition, contracts, free speech, defamation, and privacy.

Mr. Alger also represents legal cannabis businesses in civil litigation, and regulatory disputes with governmental entities.  He provides regulatory advice to cannabis businesses and serves as an advocate for his clients with state and local agencies.  Recent representations in this industry include civil litigation over trademarks, contracts, relocation of a cannabis dispensary, excessive fines on cannabis cultivators, civil rights violations by law enforcement agencies, and ownership and management disputes in cannabis business partnerships and companies.

In other industries, Mr. Alger has represented a variety of companies and individuals in disputes over corporate acquisitions, business relationships, and financial issues.  His work ranges from complex, multi-defendant class actions to disputes over subpoenas and public access to government proceedings and records.  Mr. Alger’s business litigation work included post-trial and appellate representation of an international office supply company, in which Mr. Alger obtained the reversal for his client of a $32 million jury verdict for fraud and breach of an advertising contract.  Mr. Alger’s work also included representation in the trial and appellate courts of a billboard company that successfully challenged the City of Los Angeles’ inconsistent regulation of outdoor signs.

Mr. Alger makes himself available to mediate disputes among businesses and individuals.  His expertise in the cannabis industry and 33 years in commercial litigation makes him a valuable resource for resolution of disagreements without the high cost of litigation in court or in arbitrations.

 Mr. Alger has been an outspoken advocate for First Amendment and other civil rights for nearly five decades, both as an attorney and journalist.  He was lead counsel in two watershed Ninth Circuit cases interpreting Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which provides protection to internet companies that host content created by others.  Mr. Alger also successfully represented clients in the Ninth Circuit in free speech cases of first impression involving the posting of controversial content on YouTube and on online roommate and dating services.  As outside counsel and during his tenure as Deputy General Counsel at Google, Mr. Alger led Google's defense against lawsuits over copyrighted material posted online without owner consent, and the use of trademarks without owner consent in internet search advertising by competitors.  Mr. Alger’s team obtained complete victories in two patent jury trials in the Eastern District of Texas.  Mr. Alger and Google also took leading roles during Mr. Alger’s tenure in controversies over news aggregation, online piracy, privacy rights, software patents, and open source licensing. 

Other recent victories include the dismissal of a federal lawsuit challenging a social network’s decision to remove material violating the network’s policies, which was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit, and the California Court of Appeal’s holding that electronic communications cannot be disclosed by a service provider without the user’s express consent.  

Mr. Alger is based in Southern California but appears regularly in courts throughout California and has a national practice in the federal trial and appellate courts.  

He is a frequent speaker on online intermediary liability, publicity and privacy rights, and defamation.  His pro bono work has included representation of a state prisoner beaten by guards, a blind college student excluded from classes because of her disability, college newspapers, and public school students and parents seeking special education services.

Before attending law school, Mr. Alger was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the First Amendment Coalition, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Disability Rights Legal Center.  He is a member of the Southern California Mediation Association, the Media Law Resource Center, and the Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Orange County Bar Associations.