Laura W. Brill

Brill focuses on complex civil litigation and appeals relating to media, entertainment, commercial and regulatory disputes, but she finds constitutional litigation cases especially fascinating.

Currently she is the lead counsel for Los Angeles County in a lawsuit to invalidate a new state law that puts the redrawing of county supervisors' districts in the hands of a 14-member citizens committee. County of Los Angeles v. State of California, BS168212 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 27, 2017).

"The thing I love most about litigating is taking complicated facts and esoteric legal principals and putting them together in a way that's clear, compelling and as straightforward as possible to bring some kind of moral or logical voice to a dispute," Brill said. "This case is an example of that because the state enacted a special redistricting law that applies only to LA County."

SB 958 creates a redistricting committee of Los Angeles County residents whose political party affiliations must reflect countywide party registration. However, it excludes voters with no party preference, a group that comprises 25 percent of the county's voters, according to the lawsuit.

Brill and her team put together a complaint that focuses on the lack of justification for singling out LA County for a special rule, and how the rule discriminates against independent voters.

Brill also garnered national attention in February for authoring and circulating a letter supporting the independence of the judiciary and expressing concerns with President Donald Trump's disparaging statements about federal judges. More than 6,400 lawyers and law professors from around the country signed the letter, which was sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, members of Congress, and leaders of State Bar associations.

She recently penned another letter, addressed to Sessions and signed by more than 500 attorneys, in support of U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson of the District of Hawaii. Sessions dismissively referred to him as "a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific," and the letter calls on the attorney general to issue a formal apology.

"These repeated personal attacks on judges that seek to undermine the legitimacy of the courts have been troubling to me," Brill said. "What I'm hoping to do is make sure we in the legal community have a voice, that we can provide a counterbalance, and educate the public about the misleading nature of these comments and what the role of the courts really is."

— Jennifer Chung Klam