Laura W. Brill

Laura W. Brill co-founded the litigation boutique Kendall Brill & Kelly LLP in 2009, where she works on a range of cases as a certified appellate specialist for diverse clients, including Brad Pitt; the City of Los Angeles; and the heirs of a victim of Nazi art looters.

This spring she was inducted into the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Brill is also the founder of The Civics Center, a nonprofit dedicated to voter registration. At the start of her career, she clerked for Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the U.S. Supreme Court.

"As a thinker and as a judge, she's been a guiding light for me," Brill said. "Her approach to procedure and her care for language and the role lawyers can play in the world have been a big influence."

In early May, Brill's Civic Center launched a new voter registration initiative targeting graduating high school students. It's called "The Class of 2022 Ready to Vote Challenge." She said, "Four million kids graduate every year and most high schools have no voter registration procedure as part of their graduation activities. We plan to change that."

Brill is co-counsel in the latest dispute between actors Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Pitt sued his ex-wife over the sale of her share of their French estate and winery, where they were married in 2014. Jolie sold her interest in the property to Stoli Group, a business entity controlled by a Russian oligarch. Pitt asserts Jolie violated an agreement in making the sale. He seeks to void it and to compel Jolie to pay Pitt damages. Pitt v. Jolie, 22STCV06081 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 17, 2022).

The suit is in its earliest stages; Brill declined to comment.

In late April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of Brill's clients, the heirs of the original owner of a 1897 Camille Pissarro painting of a rainy Paris street scene, that was stolen by the Nazis and is now in a museum in Madrid, Spain. The painting, which the owner has sought for more than a decade to reclaim, is believed to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

The high court ruled that lower courts erred by applying federal law to the claim instead of California law. Standard choice-of-law rules must apply, Associate Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court. The matter now will be remanded, and Brill will continue to advocate to the painting's return to the original owners' heirs. Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, 20- 1566 (S.Ct., op., filed April 21, 2022).

"This case was filed in 2005, and I hope it comes out in our favor," Brill said.

"I still get up in the morning excited for the day," she added.

- John Roemer