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 Daily Journal as one of its “Top 100 Lawyers” (2015–2020), “Top Women Lawyers” (2013–2019) and “Top Women Litigators” in California (2013–2018). The Los Angeles Business Journal named her to the “L.A. 500” (2019–2022), as one of their most influential women attorneys (2018–2020), among the “Leaders of Influence: Minority Attorneys” (2019, 2021–2023) and a “Leaders in Law” finalist for Litigator of the Year (2020). 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). L.A. Biz named Lisa as one of its “Women of Influence,” for the impact she has made both professionally and in her community throughout her career (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 recognized by Variety in its 2022 “Legal Impact Report,” was named “Consumer Litigation Lawyer of 2018” by the Century City Bar Association, and has been included in The Best Lawyers in America (2018–2022). Lisa received the J. Michael Brown Award from DuPont in 2008 for her personal commitment to diversity, recruiting and mentoring in the legal profession. Recently, Lisa was selected to serve a three-year term as an alternate Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference.
Lisa currently serves as the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee co-chair of Sidley’s Greater Los Angeles offices and is a member of Sidley’s California Consumer Privacy Litigation Task Force, a dedicated group of lawyers focusing specifically on litigation involving the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).
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 diversity 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.