Featured Speakers:
Mike Feuer, Los Angeles City Attorney
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has long been one of California's leading lawyers and lawmakers. As LA's chief lawyer and prosecutor since July, 2013, he has brought an innovative, problem-solving focus that combines tough and effective prosecution with initiatives to improve public safety and the quality of life throughout the city. Feuer’s office also has been at the forefront of key national issues ranging from gun violence prevention and consumer protection to justice system reform and challenges to recent federal policies that threaten fundamental rights and public safety. Feuer was re-elected in March, 2017, to a second term without opposition.
In 2017, the American Bar Association presented its top award in the nation for a public sector law office to Feuer’s office—the first City Attorney’s office ever to receive the distinguished Hodson Award, recognizing "sustained, outstanding performance or a specific and extraordinary service by a government or public sector law office."
Feuer has focused on neighborhoods, nearly tripling the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program and creating the Community Justice Initiative - an array of innovative, neighborhood-based programs focused on quality of life crimes, truancy, prostitution, homelessness and more - to reduce recidivism and address root causes of crime. He has expanded a project to rid problem properties of gangs, guns and drugs that threaten neighborhood safety.
Under the City Attorney’s broad authority, Feuer has brought a wide-range of lawsuits to protect consumers. For example, Feuer’s office was the first government agency to take action against Wells Fargo over its opening of unauthorized accounts. He achieved an historic settlement on behalf of the City Attorney’s Office and federal partners, requiring Wells Fargo to pay restitution to its customers, put protections in place to stop the illegal behavior and pay $185 million in fines and penalties. This year he filed lawsuits against the Weather Channel App claiming privacy violations and Intuit, parent company of Turbo Tax, and H&R Block asserting they kept low-income customers from filing their taxes for free. A national leader in preventing gun violence, Feuer created the City Attorney’s Gun Violence Prevention Unit and has worked aggressively to keep guns out the hands of criminals and children. He has brought charges against adults who did not properly store firearms which later fell into the hands of children, and, with the LAPD, created protocols to assure domestic violence perpetrators do not have weapons. In a groundbreaking national effort, Feuer joined with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. to co-found and chair Prosecutors Against Gun Violence - an independent, non-partisan coalition devoted to prosecutorial and policy solutions to the public health and safety crisis of gun violence. Last year, in the wake of the Parkland school massacre, he convened the Los Angeles Blue Ribbon Panel on School Safety, which held eight hearings and produced a comprehensive report with over 30 recommendations.
Feuer’s office has been active on other key national issues with implications for Angelenos. His office obtained a permanent, nationwide injunction preventing the Trump Administration from imposing civil immigration enforcement considerations on the federal Community-Based Policing grant program. Feuer's office leads a coalition of major cities and counties on a brief opposing the Trump Administration’s attempt to halt the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program. The office has participated in briefs opposing the Muslim Travel Ban (Feuer himself went to L.A. International Airport to attempt to secure the release of early detainees). Feuer's office was also counsel of record supporting marriage equality on a brief for 226 mayors, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities and others in the U.S. Supreme Court, and joined with New York City and Santa Clara County in leading seventy local governments and 80 mayors on an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the right of LGBTQ people to be from sexual orientation-based discrimination in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case.
Previously Feuer served as the Majority Policy Leader of the California Assembly and Chair of the Assembly's Judiciary Committee, writing many of California's most important public safety, children's health, transportation, consumer protection and environmental laws. Feuer jointly-authored the Homeowners' Bill of Rights and the Iran Contracting Act. He wrote the Crime Gun Identification Act and the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act, as well as the nation's most comprehensive law to remove cancer-causing chemicals from consumer products, the law requiring insurance companies to insure children with pre-existing conditions, the law authorizing L.A. County's transformative transportation initiative, Measure R, and much more.
As a Los Angeles City Council member, Feuer chaired the Budget and Finance Committee, delivering on-time, balanced budgets, fighting successfully for anti-gang and after-school programs, jobs for disadvantaged youth and meals for indigent seniors. Feuer wrote some of America's toughest laws to curb gun violence, initiated L.A.'s 3-1-1 non-emergency services system and spearheaded ethics and business tax reforms.
Capri Maddox is the General Manager of the newly established Los Angeles City Department of Civil and Human Rights (CHRD). Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Ms. Maddox to the position in February 2020 to address systemic racism and bias in the areas of commerce, education, employment, and housing.
Under Ms. Maddox’s leadership, CHRD will combat hate crimes and level the playing field through partnerships with the Commission on the Status of Women, the Human Relations Commission, and the Office of Racial Equity.
Previously, Ms. Maddox served as Senior Advisor to City Attorney Michael N. Feuer. In that role, she was responsible for leading Special Projects on behalf of the elected City Attorney, such as: spearheading the City Attorney Business Support Program, creating the Foster Care Diversion Program, organizing the City Attorney Faith-Based Council, overseeing recruitment and outreach efforts, addressing key Neighborhood Council and City Council requests, participating in criminal and civil cases, and coordinating school safety projects with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
During the 2018-2019 school year, Ms. Maddox served as Executive Director of Partnerships for LAUSD on a loan from the Office of the City Attorney to Southern California Grantmakers. During this one-year assignment, she assisted LAUSD in acquiring over $43 million dollars in resources for students in need and led several equity-based initiatives.
Ms. Maddox also served as the President of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, as a Mayor Villaraigosa appointee. In this role, she managed 5,000 employees and an annual budget of $1.8 billion dollars to deliver basic infrastructure services to City residents. Before joining the Board of Public Works, Ms. Maddox served as a Deputy City Attorney in the following assignments: General Counsel Group - Neighborhood Empowerment, Complex Litigation, Neighborhood Prosecutor Program – LAPD’s Wilshire Station, and Central Trials – Criminal Branch. Prior to her legal career, she worked as a Community Development and Housing Analyst with the City of Glendale, and Earthquake Recovery Project Manager with the Los Angeles Housing Department.
Ms. Maddox has a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and a Master of Science in Public Administration from California State University, Los Angeles. She received her Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California. Ms. Maddox also completed the USC Lusk Center’s Minorities in Real Estate Development Program. She continues her involvement with many higher educational institutions, including mentoring students at numerous universities and serving as a California State University, Los Angeles President’s Council Member. Ms. Maddox is also a proud member of the Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) Board of Trustees – SCPR locally broadcasts on KPCC 89.3 FM.
Ms. Maddox is a member of First AME Church – Los Angeles, where she serves in both political and social ministries. In her spare time, she serves as a youth mentor with numerous community organizations and enjoys working on public interest projects. She resides in Los Angeles County with her husband, Kerman, and thirteen-year-old son.
