Tom Gill grew up in Napa, California. He later moved to Washington State where he attended Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He earned his law degree from The University of Puget Sound School of Law, which which later became known as Seattle University School of Law.

In 1980, Tom returned to California and began working exclusively in civil litigation. For the past twelve years he has focused on employment litigation, representing employees in lawsuits alleging discrimination, harassment, violations of wage-and-hour law and other areas of employment law. Notable, one of his appellate briefs was selected for use in a national brief bank.