Brigit Greeson Alvarez

Brigit Greeson Alvarez is a Senior Deputy County Counsel at the Office of the County Counsel (Los Angeles, Board Liaison Division). In her current role, she advises the Board of Supervisors, county Departments, and commissions on immigration, governance, conflicts of interest and ethics, and the Ralph M. Brown Act. She represents the County in Vasquez-Perdomo, et al. v. Mullin, et al. litigation, and drafted the ICE-Free Zones ordinance.  

Previously, Brigit worked as the Legal Director for St. John’s Community Health. Prior to that, she was a Senior Attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA). While at LAFLA, she trained advocates locally and nationwide on immigration law. She regularly published practice advisories with the American Immigration Lawyers Association while maintaining an active docket of family-based and removal defense immigration matters. Prior to LAFLA, Brigit was the principal attorney at her own boutique immigration law firm for nearly 11 years. She also collaborated in drafting several California state laws advancing immigrants’ rights and increasing access to justice, including SB 873 (provision of legal services to unaccompanied minors); SB 674 (establishing statewide guidance for crime victims in securing “U” nonimmigrant visa certifications); and SB 6 (allocating funds for legal representation of immigrants in removal proceedings statewide). While in private practice, she was frequently invited to speak on immigration practices, policies, and procedures by Univision/ KMEX Channel 34. An experienced appellate litigator, she secured a published decision in Rendon v. Holder, 764 F.3d 1077 (9th Cir. 2014); 782 F.3d 466 (9th Cir. 2015)(denying petition for en banc rehearing)(adopting an unbiased framework for adjudicators to determine immigration consequences of criminal convictions). She also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law with the Asylum & Refugee Law Clinic at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law alongside the Hon. Bruce J. Einhorn (Ret.).

Apart from WLALA, Brigit is also the Chair of the LGBT Division of the Hispanic National Bar Association. Her commitment to building community started as an undergraduate student at Columbia University as she participated in the United Students of Color Council and was also a founding member of Queers of Color, which remains active today. After graduating, she worked for the Federal Defender Division of the Legal Aid Society for the Eastern District of New York, and then as a health and wellness program coordinator for the Audre Lorde Project, a community organizing center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color communities. She later obtained her J.D. at UCLA School of Law and completed the Epstein Program for Public Interest Law and Policy and the Critical Race Studies Program. 

Brigit’s proudest achievement is her 11-year old son Auguste who regularly volunteers at WLALA signature events and complains he knows too many lawyers.