Eugene P. Ramirez, a founding member of the firm, graduated from Whittier College School of Law (J.D., 1987), where he was Notes & Comments Editor of the Law Review, a member of the Moot Court Honors Board and President of the Student Bar Association. At Whittier, he received an award as the Best Oral Advocate and the Outstanding Moot Court Graduate Award. He received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from California State University, Long Beach (B.A., 1983), where he minored in Criminal Justice & Public Policy.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Ramirez worked as a Deputy District Attorney for the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office, where he conducted numerous misdemeanor and felony jury trials, including murder trials. He has also worked as a reserve police officer for the Whittier Police Department and the Monterey Park Police Department.
He serves as an advisor to several public entities on the issues of use of force, canine and SWAT issues and policies and procedures. Mr. Ramirez has acquired significant expertise on civil liability arising out of the use of police dogs in law enforcement by winning several cases, and has lectured widely on the subject to police departments nationwide. He has provided training to thousands of canine officers and supervisors, from around the country and Canada, over the past 20 years. He is General Counsel for the United States Police Canine Association and has authored several articles for the USPCA’s “Canine Courier.”
Mr. Ramirez is also experienced in defending SWAT Teams in civil liability cases. He is an instructor on liability issues for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Basic SWAT School. He is also an instructor for the California Association of Tactical Officers (CATO) and for the National Tactical Officers’ Association (NTOA). He was a member of the State Attorney General’s Blue Ribbon SWAT Committee and he was a member of POST’s Executive Advisory Committee for SWAT Teams. He was a member of the LAPD Board of Inquiry, which examined LAPD SWAT operations. He is an approved California POST instructor.
Mr. Ramirez was profiled in the April 2003, California Lawyer Magazine, for his work in defending law enforcement. He was honored with the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS). He has been named as a 2005-2011 Super Lawyer for Southern California. This award only goes to the top 5% of attorneys in the Los Angeles/Orange County Bar. He was also named to the distinguished American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an award only bestowed upon proven trial attorneys.
He was selected as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1993 and, 2006, by two different Sheriffs. He was selected as the 2009 Alumni Attorney of the Year for Whittier School of Law. He was just selected (12-7-11) as one of the Top 25 Municipal Attorneys in California by the Daily Journal. Mr. Ramirez is frequently invited to speak to law enforcement agencies across the United States on use of force, handling high profile cases and risk management issues.