Monique Alarcon is an attorney and partner in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum. She focuses her practice on the firm’s medical device cases, pharmaceutical drug liability, consumer fraud litigation and police misconduct lawsuits. In February 2024, the firm’s leadership elevated Monique to partner. She earned this honor because of her dedication, leadership, and relentless hard work.
She is an integral part of the team suing Merck for Gardasil vaccine injuries and the team suing the manufacturers of ECT-Electroconvulsive Therapy machines for brain injuries. Monique is also an adjunct Professor of Law for Loyola Law School’s Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) Moot Court Team.
Monique has successfully sued the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Burbank Police Department (California) for police misconduct, civil rights violations, assault, battery, unlawful seizure, excessive force and negligence. She also obtained a settlement from the City of Irvine when its former mayor violated one of its citizen’s first amendment rights when she blocked him from posting to her personal Facebook page which she was using as a public forum concerning official mayoral business.
Before joining the firm, Monique worked as an associate attorney for the law office of Carol A. Sobel, where she gained valuable experience representing people in civil rights litigation that addressed police accountability, First Amendment, and Fourteenth Amendment due process issues, and class actions for injunctive relief.
Monique served as an extern at Public Counsel’s Children’s Rights Project and clerked for Disability Rights Legal Center while she was attending Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. She received her law degree in 2016.
Monique is a member of the National Lawyers Guild in Los Angeles, and regularly volunteers at the NLG-LA’s legal clinics in Skid Row and Venice. She also coaches Loyola Law School’s Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) Moot Court Team and is a board member of the Latina Lawyers Bar Association.
Education
- Loyola Law School (J.D., 2016)
- University of California (B.A., in Sociology and Law & Society, 2013)
Court Admissions
- California, 2016
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 2016
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2018
- U.S. District Court, District of New Mexico, 2021
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, 2021
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, 2023
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 2024
Awards and Honors
Litigation Leadership
Member
- State Bar of California
- National Lawyers Guild – Los Angeles
- Latina Lawyers Bar Association, Board Member
- Hispanic National Bar Association
- The American Association for Justice; Leaders Forum - Champion; Police Misconduct Litigation Group
- Consumer Attorneys of California
- Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
- Elder Law and Disability Rights Center, Former Advisory Board Member
Practice Areas
Guest Speaker
- Latina Lawyers Bar Association
- Loyola Law School
- National Lawyers Guild
- University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) School of Law
- Western Center on Law & Poverty
Pro Bono and Civic Activities
- Represents people experiencing homelessness in infraction proceedings
- Coaches law school students who compete in a national moot court competition
- Serves as a board member for the Latina Lawyers Bar Association
- Former Advisory Board member for the Elder Law and Disability Rights Center in Santa Ana, California
Published Cases
- Astorga v. County of Los Angeles, Fed.Appx. (C.A.9 Cal. 2021) (In Case No. 21-55059, Plaintiffs appeal the denial of a preliminary injunction ordering Defendants to return their property following the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department's (“LASD”) seizure of various items during two protests in September 2020.)
- Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 Health Care Fund v. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. 520 F.Supp.3d 1258 (C.D.Cal. 2021) (Torts – RICO: Class action claims against pharmaceutical companies for violation of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act were adequately alleged.)
- Baldwin Park Free Speech Coalition v. City of Baldwin Park, 843 Fed.Appx. 21 (C.A.9 Cal. 2021) (Government — Municipalities: Temporary sign ordinances’ requirement that applicant submit drawing or photograph of proposed sign was justified without reference to content.)
- West v. Shea, 500 F.Supp.3d 1079 (C.D.Cal. 2020) (Civil Rights — Free Speech: Commenter sufficiently alleged that a mayor’s social media profile was a public forum, as required to state First Amendment claim.)
Additional Languages
Legal Teaching Position
- Adjunct Professor of Law, Loyola Law School’s Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) Moot Court Team, 2021 –
