James Gilliam '03

A quick glance around James Gilliam’s office at the ACLU of Southern California headquarters reveals that his life has changed dramatically since his days at Paul Hastings, where he built the firm’s pro bono department from scratch. Gone is the suit and tie. Added is a water dish and toys for his dog in his office. But his dedication to defending the rights of the underrepresented remains the same.

During his seven-year tenure as a litigation associate and associate pro bono coordinator at Paul Hastings, Gilliam worked extensively with the ACLU on civil rights and human rights cases. One of their highest-profile collaborations was a lawsuit against Los Angeles’ B18 Immigration Center, which alleged immigrant detainees were being held in unsanitary conditions and being denied rights like mail correspondence and notification that they could be released on bond.

Given his history working on groundbreaking personal liberties cases with the ACLU, it was no surprise when the organization tapped him to become deputy executive director in 2010. Now, instead of spending his days in courtrooms, he keeps the organization running on a daily basis. A recent week found him meeting the new chief of police of Pasadena, CA, strategizing about fundraising, and reviewing and approving cases the ACLU is considering litigating.

“I view what I do as enabling our organization and our lawyers to do their work, the majority of which is conducting impact litigation,” he said. “A lot of people love the courtroom or doing deal documents in the boardroom. But I always loved managing and leading.”

During Gilliam’s tenure at Paul Hastings, he was the most junior attorney ever to hold the position of associate pro bono coordinator for the firm’s Los Angeles and Beijing offices. In that capacity, he developed the firm’s pro bono practice into a powerhouse. In 2010, the firm was named to The American Lawyer’s prestigious “A-List Pro Bono Scorecard” for the first time.

“They weren’t doing any pro bono cases when I got there,” said Gilliam. “I started by taking one adoption case from Public Counsel. Then it was eight, and then it was 12. They now have 21 different projects led by people whom I enlisted to help. Now all these different organizations are benefitting from our pro bono work, as well as clients who may never have connected with these attorneys otherwise.”

Additionally, Gilliam represented dozens of pro bono clients and logged about 200 hours of pro bono representation a year. He counts his successful representation of a Kenyan rape victim who sought asylum in the U.S. as a high point in his pro bono career. Other efforts included assisting an immigrant married to a U.S. citizen during his deportation proceedings. Gilliam wrote the brief in the case and was set to present oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before the case went to mediation.

Gilliam, the 2007 recipient of Loyola’s Pro Bono Alumni of the Year Award, has long been a public-interest crusader. He attended Loyola on a full scholarship as a public interest scholar. As a Loyola student, he was heavily involved with the Public Interest Law Foundation, in addition to his law review work. And he has returned to Loyola as an adjunct professor, teaching the Public Interest Law Practice Seminar and Sexual Orientation and the Law Seminar.

Prior to attending Loyola, from which he graduated Order of the Coif, Gilliam tasted the power of the law while working as an organizer in the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) community in Nashville, TN. His work included spearheading the city’s Gay Pride Parade. “The city didn’t want to give us parade permits at first, and threatening lawsuits helped persuade city officials to give us the documents we needed to have our events,” he said. “I saw first-hand the power to threaten a lawsuit and see the city make changes. It made me realize how important becoming a lawyer could be and what a difference it could make.”

In 2010, Gilliam notched another accolade: The National LGBT Bar Association named him to its list of the “Best LGBT Lawyers under the Age of 40.” It was an important honor for Gilliam for many reasons. “It was the association’s first-ever year doing it,” he said. “And I turn 40 in December. So this was my last chance!”