[1] He graduated from Williams College in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and English literature.

[2] He spent two years working as a paralegal, first at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and then at the law firm known as Allen Matkins.

[citation needed] He graduated in 1989 with a Juris Doctor degree[2] and Order of the Coif honors.

Tigar practiced complex commercial litigation, and became a partner, at the law firm Keker & Van Nest from 1994 until 2002.

On June 11, 2012, President Barack Obama nominated Tigar to be a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, taking the seat vacated by Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong, who assumed senior status on March 23, 2012.