Julie Hamill | Attorney

Julie Hamill is an attorney, child advocate and current Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District Trustee. She is also the founder of the Alliance of Los Angeles County Parents. A fierce and experienced litigator, Julie represents the Alliance in its lawsuit against the L.A. County Dept. of Public Health. The case was originally brought to fight the department’s capricious COVID mandates in 2022, but evolved into a free speech case after the Alliance showed the department shut down public comment on government websites and pressured social media companies to censor critics.   

Julie served as a legal clerk in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism. She represented public agencies as a litigator for Richards, Watson & Gershon in Los Angeles before launching her own law firm in 2015. Julie argued in favor of the people’s constitutional right to referendum in Alta Sierra Holistic Exchange Service v. County of Kern before the Fifth District Court of Appeal. She previously served as Chair of the Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commission and as a member of the City’s Traffic Safety Committee.

Julie is an influential voice on California law and policy on social media and a frequent guest on Fox News at Night with Trace Gallagher. At CPC, Julie is launching the organization’s new justice center focused on dismantling government barriers to freedom and prosperity in California. 

 

Latest by Julie Hamill

Social Media Use for Public Officials – An Explainer Based on Lindke V. Freed and O’Connor-Ratcliff V. Garnier

Social Media Use for Public Officials – An Explainer Based on Lindke V. Freed and O’Connor-Ratcliff V. Garnier

Executive Summary In Lindke v. Freed, the United States Supreme Court adopted a two-part test to determine whether a public official’s conduct on social media rises to state action for purposes of 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 (“Section 1983”). The Court evaluated the question of when social media use crosses the line from private action to...

By Julie Hamill

Legal Update: Visalia Unified School District v. Public Employment Relations Board

Legal Update: Visalia Unified School District v. Public Employment Relations Board

Last month, the California Court of Appeal issued a decision in Visalia Unified School District v. Public Employees Relations Board, impacting personnel disputes in school districts throughout California. This is a must-read for all California school district HR directors. Overview: Despite finding that a school district’s decision to fire the union chapter president was retaliatory,...

By Julie Hamill

Legal Update on Cayla J. v. State of California

Legal Update on Cayla J. v. State of California

On February 1, Public Counsel announced settlement of Cayla J. v. State of California, Alameda County Superior Court Case No. RG20084386. The LA Times explains the settlement in further detail. Nutshell California’s pandemic policies harmed children, especially minority students in low-income areas. The settlement includes a promise by State government defendants to propose legislation reallocating resources toward helping students most...

By Julie Hamill