Jim Trott, Esq.

Jim Trott has practiced law since 1983 and has spent four decades representing peace officers and law enforcement associations throughout Southern California. He began representing peace officers in 1986 and, by 1989, became a partner in a law firm whose practice was devoted exclusively to the representation of peace officers.

Throughout his career, Jim has represented officers from more than a dozen law enforcement agencies and associations throughout Southern California, including members of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, Huntington Beach Police Officers’ Association, Downey Police Officers’ Association, Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, and Long Beach Police Officers Association. A longtime member of the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Jim continued representing officers from numerous agencies throughout the first three decades of his tenure as General Counsel to the Long Beach Police Officers Association.

From 1989 through 2026, Jim served as General Counsel to the Long Beach Police Officers Association, with primary responsibility for representing its members in disciplinary matters. That 37-year tenure, combined with his representation of officers from numerous other agencies, produced an extraordinary volume and breadth of experience in peace officer representation. Over the course of his career, Jim has handled more than 12,000 internal affairs interviews, over 500 Skelly hearings, and hundreds of administrative disciplinary hearings and appeals.

Jim also served for more than a decade on the Los Angeles Police Protective League’s officer-involved shooting call-out team. During his career, he has responded to and represented officers at more than 400 officer-involved shootings involving LAPD, Long Beach, and other Southern California law enforcement agencies. This extensive first-hand experience includes representing officers from the immediate aftermath of critical incidents through the administrative and legal proceedings that followed.

Jim’s practice has also included extensive writ and appellate litigation on behalf of peace officers and their associations. He has appeared in more than 50 writ proceedings and before both the California Courts of Appeal and the California Supreme Court. His appellate work has resulted in several published opinions involving the rights of peace officers and public employees, including Runyan v. Ellis, Barber v. Long Beach Civil Service Commission, and Long Beach Police Officers Association v. City of Long Beach.

His civil litigation experience includes serving as second chair with his senior partner in Los Angeles Police Protective League v. Gates, litigation arising out of the LAPD Hollywood Division burglary scandal. The case resulted in a $2.8 million jury verdict, one of the most significant public-sector wrongful termination verdicts of its time. In 1992, as General Counsel to the Long Beach Police Officers Association, Jim served as lead counsel in a successful seven-figure Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) action against the City of Long Beach.

Jim received his law degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1983 and began practicing law that same year.

Away from the practice of law, Jim enjoys spending time with his three daughters and five grandsons, woodworking, and coaching a nationally ranked girls softball team.