Rasha Gerges Shields's appointment to the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners confirmed by L.A. City Council

The Los Angeles City Council confirmed the appointment of Firm partner Rasha Gerges Shields to serve on the City's Board of Police Commissioners on March 22, 2023. Ms. Shields is based in the Firm's Los Angeles Office and was appointed to the board in February by Mayor Karen Bass.

"The appointments I'm making today represent a major step toward transparency, accountability and a comprehensive approach to public safety that includes a police department that protects the community and leaves community members feeling safe no matter where they are living in Los Angeles," said Mayor Bass in her announcement of Board appointments on February 7, 2023.

Ms. Shields most recently served as Co-Chair of the Los Angeles Police Commission's Advisory Committee on Building Trust and Equity, where she worked to examine next practice on a wide range of issues, resulting in reform recommendations to the Board of Police Commissioners. She also co-authored a report to the UCLA Chancellor recommending changes to UCLA's public safety efforts. Ms. Shields is a former federal prosecutor with nearly 20 years of first-chair trial and appellate experience, including serving as the lead trial counsel in federal court, arguing before the California Supreme Court and appellate courts, and submitting amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court as lead counsel.

She is a member of the Firm's Constitutional Policing and Civil Justice Reform (CPR) Initiative, where our lawyers engage in local and nationally coordinated efforts to achieve cultural and systemic changes in policing practices in minority communities throughout the United States, with an emphasis on the African American community. She also serves on the Firm's Diversity, Inclusion & Advancement Committee.

Ms. Shields is a partner in the Firm's State Attorney General Enforcement, Investigations & Litigation Practice, where she conducts internal investigations, counsels clients on compliance programs, and defends companies and executives in high-stakes civil and criminal matters, including Department of Justice and state attorneys general enforcement actions.  

A first-generation professional who immigrated to the United States from Egypt, Ms. Shields earned her law degree at UCLA and her undergraduate degree at UC Irvine.