Michael McGill, Esq.

Michael has spent his entire career specializing exclusively in the representation of public safety associations and their members. He represents officers and firefighters in all labor and employment matters, with a primary focus on litigation, trial and negotiations. His aggressive, yet straightforward, style has produced tremendous results significantly enhancing the rights of public safety members throughout the United States. Michael has successfully litigated virtually every state and federal law affecting the rights of public safety members and is an expert on public safety unique issues, such as the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act, the Firefighters Bill of Rights Act, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the First Amendment.

Michael spends considerable time both in state and federal court, and his repeated successes have netted his clients millions of dollars through settlement and trial. He has negotiated hundreds of union contracts for his Associations and has been a relentless advocate in advancing the working conditions, both in compensation and benefits, for his clients. He has tried cases before every judicial tribunal governing public safety associations and members—including all administrative bodies such as the Public Employment Relations Board and the State Personnel Board, as well as most superior courts and district courts in California. Michael handles cases from start to finish, taking matters to appeal when necessary. He has taken two separate cases from inception to the United States Supreme Court, writing the brief on one and presenting oral argument before the Supreme Court on the other. Both cases involved the infringement of constitutional rights against a public safety member, one a SWAT police officer and the other a firefighter.

His work has resulted in numerous published decisions, each improving the rights afforded to public safety members: including: Casson v. Orange County Employees Retirement System, 87 Cal.App.5th 1204 (2023) (published decision holding that lateral public safety members who do not elect reciprocity are not subject to offsets in their pension); Florio v. City of Ontario, 130 Cal.App.4th 1462 (2005) (finding that arbitration cost-sharing provisions are unconstitutional); Soto v. County of Riverside (2008) 162 Cal.App.4th 492, 76 Cal.Rptr.3d 21 (holding that union contract cannot waive the constitutional rights of its members); Rialto Police Benefit Association v. City of Rialto, 155 Cal.Rptr.4th 1295 (2007) (as an issue of first impression, city was required, under Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, to meet and confer with association concerning city’s decision to contract out with county for services); York v. Robinson, 566 F.3d 817 (9th Cir. 2009) (public safety officer’s reporting of numerous instances of possible corruption, and follow-up communications when he did not receive adequate response, involved “matters of public concern”); Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., Inc., 554 F.3d 769 (9th Cir. 2009) (ground breaking case involving the privacy rights of public employees in text message devices owned by the city, in which the court held that employees had an expectation of privacy in content of their city-owned text messages); and Desrochers v. City of San Bernardino, 572 F.3d 703 (9th Cir. 2009) (identifying the parameters by which a public employees may be entitled to constitutional protection for speech in the workplace).

Michael is routinely selected by his peers as a top labor attorney, having been selected in 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016 as a Southern California Super Lawyer – Rising Star, an honor reserved for the top 2.5% of attorneys in the State. Michael graduated from California Lutheran University in 1999 with a B.S. in Sports Medicine and Athletic Training, after a successful collegiate basketball career. He later graduated cum laude in 2003 from the University of La Verne College of Law. There, he received the University of La Verne’s Merit Scholarship and was both a Staff Writer and Staff Editor for the College of Law’s Journal of Juvenile Law. Michael is a member of the California Bar, each of the U.S. District Courts for the State of California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, and the United States Supreme Court.