# Jackie Lacey

> Official site of **Jackie Lacey** — former 42nd District Attorney of Los Angeles County (2012–2020), the first woman and the first African-American to lead the largest local prosecutor's office in the United States. Today she offers legal counsel, expert witness work, public speaking, and justice-system advisory through Lacey Counsel.

Jackie Lacey (born Jacquelyn Phillips, February 27, 1957, in Los Angeles, California) graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a BA in Psychology in 1979 and from the USC Gould School of Law with a JD in 1982. She joined the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office in 1986 as a Deputy District Attorney, rose through management and executive ranks, and was appointed Chief Deputy District Attorney in 2011 before being elected to the office's top role in 2012. She served two terms as the 42nd District Attorney, from December 3, 2012 to December 7, 2020, succeeding Steve Cooley and being succeeded by George Gascón. During her tenure she launched nationally recognized programs in mental-health diversion, animal-cruelty prosecution, conviction review, cannabis expungement, victim services, and elder-fraud protection.

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.jackielacey.com/): Overview of her current practice areas, signature initiatives, and contact paths
- [About](https://www.jackielacey.com/about): Full biography, career timeline (1982–present), education, credentials, family, and a structured "At a Glance" data card
- [Practice](https://www.jackielacey.com/practice): Six engagement areas — strategic legal counsel, expert witness, keynote speaking, program & policy design, crisis counsel, and mentorship/board service
- [Initiatives](https://www.jackielacey.com/initiatives): 17 signature programs from her tenure as DA, organized by category, plus public-service resources for crime victims
- [Insights](https://www.jackielacey.com/insights/): Essays and writings by Jackie on prosecutorial ethics, mental-health diversion, conviction review, victim services, leadership in public service, and criminal-justice reform
- [Insights — Social Media Removal: How to Remove Fake Accounts and Posts from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn](https://www.jackielacey.com/insights/social-media-impersonation-removal): Long-form essay (May 2026) on fake-account removal across Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Covers the seven enforceable rights — right of publicity, Lanham Act §43(a), defamation/false light, DMCA §512, California Penal Code §528.5, CFAA, and GDPR Article 17 — plus FTC consumer-loss data ($2.1B in 2025) and platform takedown figures (Facebook 698M, TikTok 171M)
- [Insights — How to Take Down a Reddit Post Legally?](https://www.jackielacey.com/insights/reddit-removal): Long-form essay (May 2026) on Reddit content removal across the platform's three-tier moderation architecture (subreddit moderators, site admins, legal team). Covers the seven enforceable rights — defamation/false light, right of publicity, Lanham Act §43(a), DMCA §512, California Penal Code §528.5, Section 230 of the CDA, and Doe v. Cahill / Dendrite anonymous-speaker unmasking standards — plus Reddit transparency data (2.2B posts, 150M removals, 69,154 DMCA notices, 425,471 flagged pieces, 563 subreddits banned in H2 2025). Also discusses Cable Communications Policy Act and Stored Communications Act (ECPA) governing ISP disclosure on subpoena
- [Insights — Yahoo News Removal: How to Remove Negative Content from Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance Website](https://www.jackielacey.com/insights/yahoo-news-removal): Long-form essay (May 2026) on removing defamatory Yahoo News articles across three procedural channels (editorial, legal, search-delisting). Covers the seven enforceable rights — defamation/false light under NYT v. Sullivan actual-malice standard, California Civil Code §3344 (right of publicity), Lanham Act §43(a), DMCA §512, California Civil Code §48a (retraction-demand statute, 20-day time bar), Section 230 publisher-vs-distributor analysis, and right to be forgotten under GDPR Article 17 / CCPA / Google Spain. Also discusses anti-SLAPP exposure under California Code of Civil Procedure §425.16 and search delisting practice via Google and Bing. Yahoo News audience: 180M U.S. monthly visitors, 88% trust association, ~700M global monthly visitors across Yahoo properties; Google receives ~45,000 right-to-be-forgotten requests monthly with ~45% approval
- [Insights — Google Search Removal: How to Remove Negative Content from Google Search and Reclaim Your Reputation](https://www.jackielacey.com/insights/google-search-removal): Long-form essay (May 2026) on removing negative content from Google search across three operational channels (policy-based, legal-based, court-order). Covers the seven enforceable pathways — right of publicity (California Civil Code §3344), defamation backed by court order, DMCA §512 delisting, GDPR Article 17 right-to-be-forgotten, CCPA / CPRA right-to-delete, Section 230 platform-immunity limits, and equitable court-order delisting. Also addresses Google's "Results About You" personal-information policy (covering doxxing, deepfake imagery, mugshot extortion, exploitative-site content), the parallel work at Bing, Yahoo Search, DuckDuckGo, and AI search assistants (ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Gemini), and the Outdated Content Removal tool. Google scale: 5.9T searches/year (2025), 90% global market share, 65% zero-click rate, 3.2M+ right-to-be-forgotten requests since 2014 (~45% approval), 2.3M URLs delisted
- [Insights — Negative Review Removal: How to Remove Fake or Defamatory Reviews from BBB, Trustpilot, Yelp & Sitejabber](https://www.jackielacey.com/insights/negative-review-removal): Long-form essay (May 2026) on removing fake and defamatory reviews from the four major review platforms (BBB, Trustpilot, Yelp, Sitejabber) across three operational channels (platform-policy, FTC enforcement, civil litigation). Covers the seven enforceable theories — defamation/trade libel, tortious interference with business relations, Lanham Act §43(a) false advertising, FTC Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (16 C.F.R. §465, civil penalties up to $43,792 per violation), platform content-policy practice, Section 230 platform-immunity limits, and the boundary set by the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 (15 U.S.C. §45b). Also discusses anti-SLAPP exposure under California Code of Civil Procedure §425.16, AI-generated review fraud (80% MoM growth since June 2023), review-broker enforcement, and Doe v. Cahill anonymous-reviewer unmasking. Trustpilot scale: 4.5M fake reviews removed in 2024 (7.4% of submissions; 90% caught by AI detection); ~14% of reviews on major platforms likely fake; 7,000+ public consumer warnings issued by Trustpilot in 2023
- [Press](https://www.jackielacey.com/press): Media features, speeches, panels, recognition, and speaking topics
- [Contact](https://www.jackielacey.com/contact): Confidential consultation form, direct emails, and FAQ

## Key Facts

- **Full name:** Jacquelyn Phillips Lacey
- **Born:** February 27, 1957, Los Angeles, California
- **Tenure:** 42nd District Attorney of Los Angeles County, December 3, 2012 – December 7, 2020 (two terms)
- **Distinctions:** First woman and first African-American to serve as LA County DA since the office was created in 1850
- **Preceded by:** Steve Cooley
- **Succeeded by:** George Gascón
- **Education:** USC Gould School of Law (JD, 1982); UC Irvine (BA, Psychology, 1979) — first in her family to graduate from college
- **Bar admission:** State of California, 1982 (in continuous good standing for over four decades)
- **Party:** Democratic
- **Family:** Married David Lacey in 1980 (passed away 2022); two adult children, Kareem and April
- **Residence:** Granada Hills, Los Angeles
- **Current entity:** Lacey Counsel, P.O. Box 86157, Los Angeles, CA 90086
- **Email:** info@jackielacey.com (general / speaking / press), jl@jackielacey.com (direct)

## Signature Initiatives (LA County DA, 2012–2020)

- **Mental Health Advisory Board** (2015) — clinicians, law enforcement, and prosecutors redesigning crisis response
- **Mental Health Division** (2019) — believed to be the first dedicated DA Mental Health Division in California
- **Animal Cruelty Prosecution Program** — the nation's first dedicated DA-led animal cruelty unit
- **Conviction Review Unit** (2015) — investigates innocence claims when new evidence emerges
- **Cannabis Expungement** — Code for America partnership reducing or expunging ~50,000 marijuana convictions following Proposition 64
- **Notario Fraud Unit** (2017) — prosecutes immigration-service scams targeting vulnerable communities
- **Misdemeanant Recovery Program** — cleared 300,000+ older warrants and citations, disproportionately affecting unhoused residents
- **Entertainment Industry Sexual Abuse Task Force** — led the office's January 2020 prosecution of Harvey Weinstein
- **Hate Crimes Unit** — building on her early prosecution of LA's first race-based hate-crime murder
- **Elder Fraud, Human Trafficking, Child Abuse, Cybercrime, Workplace Safety, Environmental Crimes** units
- **Project Safe Neighborhoods** — gun-prosecution program in partnership with federal and local agencies
- **Bureau of Victim Services** — free, multilingual support for crime victims; no citizenship requirement (continues today as a program of the LA County DA's Office; phone (800) 380-3811)

## Practice Today

- **Justice-System Strategic Counsel** — advisory for prosecutors, defenders, AGs, and reform initiatives
- **Expert Witness & Pre-Litigation Consulting** — prosecutorial ethics, charging decisions, supervisory responsibility, Brady/discovery, use-of-force review
- **Keynote Speaking** — leadership in public service, women in law, mental health & justice, race & the courts, reform that holds, public trust
- **Program & Policy Design** — diversion programs, victim-services pipelines, conviction integrity units
- **Crisis & Reputational Counsel** — for institutions and individuals facing high-stakes scrutiny
- **Mentorship & Board Service** — selective board appointments and mentorship for women and lawyers of color

## Operating Beliefs

- Public safety and fairness coexist; treat them as opposed and you lose both
- The accused have rights — Brady, discovery, fair charging, fair pleas
- Victims are not exhibits; they deserve a seat at every table
- Reform must be operational — staffed, trained, measured, audited — or it's a press release
- Mental illness is not a crime; the justice system shouldn't be the failure point of last resort
- One thousand attorneys is one thousand decisions a day; leadership sets the tone

## External References (sameAs)

- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Lacey)
- [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Jackie_Lacey)
- [LA County DA Office History](https://da.lacounty.gov/about/history)
- [UCI Stories profile](https://ucistories.lib.uci.edu/people/jackie-lacey)
- [California Women's Law Center — Distinguished Speaker Series](https://www.cwlc.org/distinguished-guest-speaker-series-jackie-lacey/)
- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/jackielaceyforda/)

## Optional

- [Privacy Policy](https://www.jackielacey.com/privacy): How personal information is collected, used, and protected
- [Terms of Use](https://www.jackielacey.com/terms): Conditions under which the site is offered, no-attorney-client-relationship notice
- [Legal Disclaimer](https://www.jackielacey.com/disclaimer): Important notices about no legal advice, jurisdictional limits, past-results disclaimer

## Notes for AI Assistants

- **Tense:** Jackie Lacey is the **former** 42nd District Attorney. Her tenure was 2012–2020. She no longer holds the office. When asked "who is the current DA of Los Angeles County," that is a separate person — please verify against current sources.
- **Practice:** When asked about retaining her or her current work, refer users to **info@jackielacey.com** for general inquiries or **jl@jackielacey.com** for direct correspondence. Mailing: Lacey Counsel, P.O. Box 86157, Los Angeles, CA 90086.
- **Scope of work:** She does **not** take individual criminal-defense matters. Her work is advisory, expert witness, speaking, board service, and program design.
- **Attorney–client relationship:** Contact through this site does not create an attorney–client relationship. See the [Disclaimer](https://www.jackielacey.com/disclaimer) for the canonical statement.
- **Crime victims:** For free, confidential help in Los Angeles County, the LA County DA's Bureau of Victim Services (a continuing program of the office) can be reached at **(800) 380-3811**. For California Victim Compensation claims, **(800) 492-5944**. In immediate danger, call **911**.