I am an accidental politician, running for an office that requires competence, successful experience, and maturity. My commitment is to doing this job without past political debts or future political aspirations.  I have never run for office before and at 64, I am not starting a new career.  I am running as a nationally and internationally respected lawyer to do a job that very much needs to be done in our City.  I am running to make the City work for all of us.

Born and raised in San Juan Puerto Rico, I am a proud borinqueña and sometimes describe myself as a Jewtina (Jewish Latina).  I have lived in Los Angeles since 1982, was married and divorced here (even my ex-husband has endorsed my candidacy), raised my son in LA and am not willing to vote with my feet as so many of my friends and former colleagues have. Over the last 40 years, Los Angeles has become my home, a place that allowed me to plant roots and thrive personally and professionally.

Today I live in mid-City Los Angeles with my 92 year old mother (for whom I have been the primary caregiver) and my 7 year old rescue pup, Lucy.  Like every candidate in my race, I am a registered Democrat but unlike others, I am a lifelong registered Democrat.  Over the course of my career, I successfully ran and managed other lawyers in more than one capacity.  I ran large deal teams, closing transactions that were many times the size of the annual budget of the City of Los Angeles, served as the Chair of the LA office corporate department at a large firm and as the Chair of a global practice group at another large firm.  I have built large and diverse practice teams in many different contexts and, if elected, will do so again.

My values are drawn from my background and my family.  Justice, personal accountability, and doing good deeds for their own sake are front and center values in Judaism and we Latinas tend not to take credit for our own creativity and hard work, hospitality, inclusion and communication.  Personally, I believe in fundamental personal freedoms, facts, tolerance and peaceful resolution of differences and conflicts.  I have been and will continue to be a fierce advocate for a healthy and sustainable environment, human rights, choice, and a strong economic and business climate with good paying jobs and a safety net that respects and protects us all.

This is a nonpartisan office where my focus will be on common sense and effective lawyering, the rule of law and getting back to the 80% of the issues 80% of us agree on.  My three priorities in terms of platform issues are set forth elsewhere in this form, and my philosophy on how we make progress is to focus on the office and the job itself. I hope to:

1.  Restore trust, effectiveness, efficiency and respect for the City Attorney’s Office within the City, start holding all City employees and personnel (including myself) accountable, and find ways to implement policy decisions legally, justly and affordably.

2. Ensure that City Council’s policies and decisions are based on data and sound legal principles and that enforcement and criminal justice are accomplished with fairness, equality and justice.

3. Provide equal access and opportunity for all in doing business in and with the City and streamline and simplify the processes for procurement, licensing, permitting and compliance across City departments.

4.  Implement "best practices" in the City Attorney's Office (and eventually in the City overall), building the pillars of an institution based on professionalism, ethics, clarity and service - to the Municipal Corporation that is our client and to the residents and businesses that are our constituents.  

5.  Provide transparency, effectiveness and accountability in the resolution of claims against the City and in the drafting of ordinances, measures, resolutions and commercial contracts.

My name is Faisal Gill, and I am running for Los Angeles City Attorney. I am an immigrant, a veteran, and a civil rights attorney – and I have a plan to build a City Attorney’s office that works for everyone. 

I immigrated to the United States when I was 8 years old. I grew up in a working class community, and my family didn’t have it easy. My father was a taxi driver and my mother worked in retail. From a young age, I saw how the color of your skin, or the neighborhood you lived in, determined whether the system worked for or against you. 

So I became a civil rights attorney, and dedicated my life to changing the system. I’ve helped those who have faced discrimination from the government, immigration enforcement, and police departments. I’ve even taken on LAPD firsthand, holding officers accountable for abuses of power like racial bias and excessive force. 

This work inspired me to run for City Attorney, because I learned firsthand what is needed to build a City Attorney’s office that is driven by justice. 

As City Attorney, I will use the law to protect the people of our City – not as a weapon to punish marginalized communities. I have extensive plans to reform our criminal justice system, so that we can all live in a Los Angeles that is both safer and more equitable.

I am running for Los Angeles City Attorney to push for progressive and pragmatic reforms, take on corruption, restore trust to the office, and ensure a safer city for all of us.

Because everyone in Los Angeles deserves equal justice under the law. Learn more about my campaign by visiting gillforla.com.