Bilal Essayli

Bilal A. Essayli is an experienced trial attorney with a reputation for vigorously defending the interests of his clients. His litigation experience is broad, including private practice at one of the world’s largest law firms, significant trial experience in one of the nation’s largest prosecutorial offices and serving as a federal prosecutor at the preeminent United States Attorney’s Office in the United States. All experiences have honed deep trial skills and strategic thinking necessary for high stakes litigation.

Prior to returning to private practice, Mr. Essayli served in the United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California located in Los Angeles. As an Assistant United States Attorney he handled significant and important litigation including but not limited to violent and organized crime, identity theft, bank fraud, securities fraud, white-collar fraud, obstruction of justice, and a multitude of other matters. His duties included advising and coordinating with federal agents on active federal and multi-jurisdictional investigations, evaluating legal issues and filing criminal cases. Mr. Essayli was a trusted Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) and represented the federal government at all stages of his many cases. An essential part of his practice as an AUSA was the effective handling of all motion practice, jury trials, appeals before the Ninth Circuit, and post-conviction litigation.

During his tenure at the United States Attorney’s Office, Mr. Essayli was entrusted with working on some of the nation’s most serious cases. One such case involved a terrorist attack in San Bernardino in 2015 that tragically led to the deaths of many American citizens. Mr. Essayli also tried a three-week jury trial of a prominent California doctor charged with more than 80 counts of unlawfully prescribing opiates, which unfortunately led to the deaths of over a dozen patients.

As foundation for his work as an AUSA, Mr. Essayli served with distinction as a prosecutor with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. That office is one of the top prosecutorial offices in the nation, is the tenth largest in the U.S. and third largest in California. During his service as a prosecutor Mr. Essayli tried numerous jury trials successfully.

Before serving as a local and federal prosecutor, Mr. Essayli was in private practice at Paul Hastings, an international law firm. While at Paul Hastings Mr. Essayli represented large corporate clients in commercial litigation. His practice included representation of employers in all aspects of employment law, including wage and hour class actions, employee mobility/trade secret protection, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wrongful discharge, whistleblower, and ADA Title III access lawsuits; and administrative proceedings before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, California Fair Employment and Housing Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and other federal and state agencies.