Lisa M. Gilford

LISA GILFORD is a leading complex civil litigator with a practice focused on class actions, multi-district litigation, products liability matters and large scale commercial disputes. She is lead counsel to clients in a wide variety of industries including automotive, pharmaceutical, communications, oil and gas, aerospace and chemical manufacturing, sports and higher education. Clients turn to Lisa for counsel on their most challenging and significant legal issues. Her advocacy skills have played a pivotal role in shaping the outcome of numerous class actions and aggregate litigation matters nationwide.

Lisa’s numerous accolades include being named by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of its “Leaders of Influence: Minority Attorneys” (2019, 2021–2024), as one of its “Top 100 Lawyers” in 2023, as one of their most influential women attorneys (2018–2020), and a “Leaders in Law” finalist for Litigator of the Year (2020). The Daily Journal named Lisa as one of its “Top 100 Lawyers” (2015–2020), “Top Women Lawyers” (2013–2019), and “Top Women Litigators” in California (2013–2018). She was also recognized by Variety in its 2022 “Legal Impact Report,” and has been included in The Best Lawyers in America (2018–2022). The National Bar Association – Women Lawyers Division honored Lisa with the “Hidden Figure” award, which recognizes the achievements of outstanding women lawyers and jurists from across the United States (2021). The John M. Langston Bar Association of Los Angeles recognized Lisa as a Law Firm Partner Honoree at their 2019 Honoring Excellence in the Legal Profession awards. She was also named “Consumer Litigation Lawyer of 2018” by the Century City Bar Association. Lisa received the J. Michael Brown Award from DuPont in 2008 for her personal commitment to inclusion, recruiting and mentoring in the legal profession. 

Lisa is a founding member of Sidley’s PFAS Working Group, a multidisciplinary team advising clients on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance liabilities. She is also a member of the firm’s Chambers-ranked Automotive and Mobility Leadership Committee, which is composed of lawyers from around the world in various practice areas dedicated to driving the firm’s growth in the automotive and mobility sector.

Lisa previously taught at The Georgetown University Law Center and was a graduate fellow and public service lawyer with Georgetown’s Institute for Public Representation. She frequently lectures on California tort, consumer protection and unfair competition claims, successful defense of class actions, best practices for outside counsel, and professional development for women lawyers and other issues. Lisa earned her LL.M. from Georgetown University, her J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and received a B.A. from Furman University.

• Represented an aerospace company in mass toxic tort litigation matters involving alleged contamination in a local residential neighborhood. The cases involve hundreds of plaintiffs claiming personal injuries and property damages based on negligence, nuisance, and strict liability claims, among others, allegedly arising from exposure to petroleum and rocket propellant.
• Served as coordinating counsel for a chemical products company defending personal injury cases arising out of alleged exposure to benzene containing paint and solvent products.
• Serving as lead counsel to an elite university in a series of high-profile litigation matters; defended the university in a series of class actions brought by former student-athletes alleging academic fraud, breach of contract and various tort theories and was successful in getting the suits dismissed with prejudice
• Securing the dismissal of a privately held pharmaceutical company in a law enforcement matter involving marketing techniques for prescription pain medications
• Serving as lead counsel to Toyota in its “Unintended Acceleration” MDL involving more than 400 consumer class actions and personal injury cases, including successfully obtaining dismissal of the claims of plaintiffs from 14 different countries from that proceeding 
• Representing corporate clients in class actions brought under California consumer protection and unfair competition laws, including the Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law and Consumer Legal Remedies Act; and counseling clients in litigation prevention and risk management in California
• Serving as trial counsel in products liability cases involving claims of design and manufacturing defect for a variety of consumer and commercial products, including motor vehicles, robotics, household appliances, pharmaceuticals, refinery equipment, industrial and agricultural chemicals, and food and nutrition additives
• Obtaining a defense verdict for a major telecommunications client after a month-long jury trial in a case involving breach of contract and civil rights claims and representing telecommunications clients in class actions brought under the Telephone Communications Privacy Act and California Invasion of Privacy Act

*The above matters were handled prior to joining Sidley.

• Board Member, S.H.A.U.N. Foundation for Girls
• Board Member, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
• Alternate Lawyer Representative, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference
• Board Member, The Music Center
• Former President, National Association of Women Lawyers
• Member, Defense Research Institute (Products Law and Toxic Tort Sections)
• Member, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles
• Member, Women’s Rainmaker Roundtable
• Member, Black Women Lawyers Association
• Member, Langston Bar Association
• Member, National Bar Association