Philadelphia Business Journal Names Deborah Willig Among 2021 ‘Best of the Bar’

PHILADELPHIA (October 2021) – Willig, Williams & Davidson is excited to announce that the Philadelphia Business Journal has named managing partner Deborah R. Willig among the 2021 Best of the Bar, an award honoring top lawyers in Philadelphia for achievements in the legal profession.

As managing partner of one of the largest union-side law firms in the country, Willig serves as a fierce advocate for workers’ rights today just as she has since the firm’s founding in 1979. For the past year and a half, she has fought to protect and fairly compensate many of the workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, including teachers and other school employees, first responders, and health care workers. Willig was an integral member of the negotiating committee for the contract negotiations on behalf of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, participating in weeks of lengthy sessions that concluded earlier this month with a tentative agreement for the PFT. Immediately thereafter, she helped to negotiate a successor Agreement for AFSMCE District Council 47, representing the white collar workers of the City of Philadelphia. And now, Willig is a critical member of the core negotiating team representing the National Women’s Soccer League Players’ Association, which is negotiating its first ever collective bargaining agreement.

“It has been my honor to advocate for the working families who produce our goods, fight our fires, drive our trains and buses, serve our meals, and teach our children,” said Willig. “They are the heroes to whom I have dedicated my career, and I am proud that that work has been recognized along with the work of other impressive leaders in the Philadelphia legal community.”

The first female Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1992, Willig helped to set the stage for women as leaders in the law in Philadelphia. She earned her law degree from Temple University School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia Business Journal honored Willig and the other Best of the Bar honorees during a program on Oct. 28, 2021.

About Willig, Williams & Davidson – Willig, Williams & Davidson (www.wwdlaw.com) is one of the largest and most respected union-side labor law firms in the United States. The firm has offices in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Jenkintown, Pa., as well as Haddonfield, N.J., and Chicago, Ill. Founded in 1979, Willig, Williams & Davidson focuses on representing labor unions, employee benefit funds and individual working people and their families on a variety of legal fronts, including national, regional and local contract negotiations; election and campaign finance; dispute resolution through mediation, arbitration and litigation; family law matters; benefits law design and compliance issues; discrimination, overtime and unpaid wages, and other employment matters; prepaid legal services for union members; social security disability; and workers’ compensation matters in Philadelphia and beyond. Workers inspire us.