Elizabeth J. Gibbons

Attorney at Law

Experience saves careers

Elizabeth has spent her 34 year career representing law enforcement officers in every aspect of their employment relationships.  She has represented thousands of peace officers in on and off duty shootings, uses of force, and a broad variety of other critical incidents or alleged misconduct investigations.

Elizabeth’s passionate tenacity combined with in-depth knowledge of Sheriff’s Department and Police Department policies, procedures, practices, and cultures has elevated her to a top ranking in Southern California representing law enforcement officers in disciplinary appeal hearings.    Her nearly three decades of tenacious legal representation has earned Elizabeth an unmatched level of knowledge of and insight into police management disciplinary tactics.  This experience has been a career saver for numerous police officers.

Litigation success for California peace officers

Elizabeth has litigated cases in Federal and State courts which have defined and strengthened the rights of Peace Officers as guaranteed by Federal and State Constitutions, the Peace Officers’ Bill of Rights Act, and the Penal Code and Evidence Code provisions commonly referred to as the Pitchess Statutes.  Elizabeth recently litigated a case resulting in the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Association For Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs v. County of Los Angeles.  In the decision the Court rejected the Sheriff’s Department’s argument that the statutory protection of the confidentiality of peace officer personnel records was unconstitutional.

In convincing the Court of Appeal to uphold the 40 year old statutory confidentiality rights of peace officers across the State, Elizabeth also prevented the Los Angeles County Sheriff from releasing to prosecutors a list of 300 Deputy Sheriffs.

The Sheriff had deemed, without the input or appeal rights of the affected Deputies, that they they were unfit to testify in criminal prosecutions because of a lack of credibility.  The Sheriff’s arbitrary determination was based on the fact that the affected Deputies had been disciplined at some time during the prior 40 years.

Day-to-day legal protection just as important to peace officers

Elizabeth has also protected the rights of peace officers by prosecuting Unfair Labor Practice charges.   These charges have grown out of public safety employers’ failure to negotiate with their employee associations before changing the every-day working conditions of employees or otherwise taking adverse action against peace officer employees as a measure of anti-union animus.

Disciplinary appeal cases have been the backbone of Elizabeth’s career.  But even though less glamorous than highly publicized court decisions, Elizabeth’s successes in Unfair charge proceedings often more often directly impacted the day-to-day lives of her law enforcement clients than any other proceedings.

Empathy gain in and outside the legal arena

As a long-suffering Buffalo Bills fan, Elizabeth is genetically predisposed to not just rooting for but also having compassion, empathy, and a never-ending drive to help the underdogs, including Southern California law enforcement officers.