Douglas S. Gilliland, Esq.: Mr. Gilliland has been a trial lawyer since 1991. He represents individuals in civil rights matters such as police excessive force, false imprisonment, racial profiling, and in-custody detention. He has obtained jury verdicts and settlements in excess of one million dollars in each of the four largest counties in the State of California (Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and San Francisco). His recent victories include the Estate of Serna which involved an in-custody death ($15,000,000 dollar settlement 2024), Doe Estate v. Doe Police Department involving a mentally ill man that was shot and killed by police (1,000,000 settlement 2024), and Doe v. Doe Sheriff Department involving a racial profiling traffic stop ($200,000 settlement 2024). Mr. Gilliland also represented multiple clients against a local water district for providing contaminated drinking water at an office park ($1,400,000 settlement), and dissolution of a recycling company ($12,000,000 settlement). Mr. Gilliland has also provided civil defenses in the Birdrock Bandits murder/assault case and the notorious BUMFIGHTS video.
Mr. Gilliland also maintains a criminal defense practice representing high profile criminal defendants. He negotiated a time-served plea deal against first-degree murder charges against the grand-nephew of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino after his arrest which resulted from an episode on America’s Most Wanted; defended the Kassim Alhimidi first-degree murder case which drew worldwide attention when a note stating, "This is my country, go home to yours, you terrorist" was found at the murder scene; defended murder charges against the man that sold fentanyl laced pills causing death; negotiated house arrest for a 93-year-old former assistant city attorney Richard Peck against charges that he murdered his son; negotiated immunity for the human resources director of the government contractor that was convicted of bribing then-U.S. Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham in the largest congressional bribery case in United States history, obtained a not guilty jury verdict on all 21 counts for two former Emmy Award winning producers in a Ponzi scheme after a two month trial before the Hon. Napoleon Jones in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California; obtained a misdemeanor deal in a two-count felony assault with a deadly weapon case against the former National League Most Valuable Player and World Series Champion Kevin Mitchell; helped persuade the district attorney not to file charges against The Discovery Channel reality television personality Tommy “Gipsy” Quinn from The Devil’s Ride; negotiated immunity for a funds processor in the 20 million dollar federal case against on-line poker in Manhattan, New York; and hung the jury 6-6 in a sexual battery case against a Nazarene minister.
Mr. Gilliland received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington in 1985. He earned his Juris Doctorate (law degree) in 1990 from the University of Oregon School of Law in Eugene, Oregon where he was an associate editor for the Oregon Law Review and teaching assistant in personal injury law. After law school, Mr. Gilliland received a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) with honors in 1991 from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Mr. Gilliland was admitted to practice law before all courts of the state of California in 1991. Mr. Gilliland was admitted to practice law in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California in December 1991, the Eastern District of California in June 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in September 2001 and the United States Supreme Court in May 2002. Mr. Gilliland was granted permission to practice law in the Eastern District of Louisiana in 2008 for purposes of the Vioxx mass tort litigation.
Mr. Gilliland has been an invited speaker on civil rights law at the University of Southern California School of Law, as well as ethics at the California Western School of Law and oral advocacy at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. He has had several court of appeal decisions published by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Three and Fourth District, Division One. These decisions include Lee v. FBI, 363 F.3d 931 (9th Cir. 2004) cert. denied, 546 U.S. 1214 (2005); Butler v. San Diego District Attorneys, 370 F.3d 956 (9th Cir. 2004); Duffens v. Valenti International (2008) 161 Cal.App.4th 434; Leonte v. ACS State and Local Solutions, Inc. (2004) 123 Cal.App.4th 521.