Carol L. Gillam is the President of the firm.
View the Firm Profile for examples of Ms. Gillam's case successes.
Having founded The GIllam Law Firm in 1994, Ms.
Gillam has become a prominent member of the legal community since
beginning her law practice in 1978. She has tried numerous cases to
verdict and award, including cases that received national and even
worldwide publicity.
Ms. Gillam
graduated with honors from Northwestern University and Loyola
University of Chicago School of Law. She served as Associate Editor of
the law review, coordinated a symposium on labor and employment law,
and published an article on the subject. She was awarded a fellowship
for work on a treatise on the tax consequences of the dissolution of
marriage.
Following law
school Ms. Gillam joined the firm Keck Mahin & Cate in Chicago,
where she focused her practice on antitrust law and other complex
litigation, representing major oil companies and conglomerates.
She simultaneously served as an adjunct professor teaching antitrust law for three years at Loyola University School of Law.
In 1981 Ms. Gillam
relocated to Los Angeles, joining prominent firm Irell and Manella in
its litigation department. While there she handled antitrust,
securities, intellectual property and First Amendment matters.
In 1988 Ms. Gillam
received an appointment as Assistant United States Attorney, Criminal
Division, Central District of California. She served there until
December 1994. During her tenure, she focused on prosecuting white
collar crimes including civil rights cases, securities fraud,
government fraud, public corruption, environmental crimes and criminal
trademark infringement, securing numerous convictions at trial and by
plea. She also handled unusual cases including international
kidnapping, a case where prominent members of a foreign nation’s
former ruling party illegally purchased arms to furnish insurgents, and
a case of a stalker terrorizing a well-known actress. Her cases
generated widespread publicity and important rulings. One civil rights
case resulted in the first-ever conviction on racketeering and slavery
charges for abuses of migrant workers, as well as the largest
restitution award in such a case. She won an important appeal that
resulted in a leading decision on several issues of criminal law. Ms.
Gillam developed a reputation for taking on hard-to-win cases that
others shunned for fear of damaging their conviction rates.
In 1994 Ms. Gillam
founded The Gillam Law Firm. She has since focused the practice on
employee rights litigation, but has also handled tax controversies,
white collar criminal matters and a variety of other cases for clients.
Her clients range from top executives to low level employees.
Ms. Gillam is the
update author of California Causes of Action: Employment Law (2005 and
2006 editions); the author of a forthcoming article in a national
journal on techniques of trying jury cases; and published papers on
other subjects relevant to her practice. She is a member of the
Advisory Board for publications on litigating sexual harassment claims
and Title VII discrimination claims.
Recent speaking engagements by Ms. Gillam include: the 2006 American
Bar Association annual meeting in Honolulu (trial techniques of top
lawyers) and the 2006 California Employment Lawyers Association annual
meeting in Long Beach (cross cultural issues in the workplace).
Upcoming speaking engagements include the 2007 Los Angeles County Bar
Association Labor and Employment Section annual meeting (religious
discrimination and accommodation in the workplace).
Ms. Gillam is the
former board president of Women at Work and held various board
positions with that organization. In addition to speaking to
legal audiences, Ms. Gillam has also spoken to student and business
organizations on a wide variety of subjects.
She is an active
member of various law groups and mentors many lawyers and aspiring
lawyers
informally.
She is the mother of four grown children.
