Monique Alarcon
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.
Our client was shot in the head with a bean bag projectile, fired by an LAPD officer. After two years of litigation, we obtained a $1.25 million settlement, the largest to date stemming from the May 2020 protests. KNX News, Los Angeles interviewed Monique about the case.
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.
Locally & Nationally Recognized
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
- The 2024 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation
- Best Lawyers - Ones to Watch, 2023 - 2024
- Selected: Southern California Super Lawyers® – Rising Stars, 2022 - 2024
- Client Champion Silver Award - Martindale Hubbell, 2022 - 2023
- California Powerhouse, Law360 Regional Powerhouse Series, 2021
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40
LITIGATION LEADERSHIP
- Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel for the Baby Food Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3101 (United States District Court, Northern District of San Francisco), 2024
- Federal-State Court Liaison for Gardasil MDL No. 3036 - In Re: Gardasil Products Liability Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, 2022 -
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
Legal Teaching Position
- Adjunct Professor of Law, Loyola Law School’s Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) Moot Court Team, 2021 –
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
Additional Languages
- Spanish
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.)
Practice Areas
- Complex and Multi-District Litigation
- Consumer Fraud Litigation
- Defective Medical Devices
- Personal Injury
- Prescription Drugs
- Pharmaceutical Drug Product Liability
- Zantac Cancer Lawsuit
- Police Misconduct and Civil Rights
- Wrongful Death Law
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Wisner Baum Prevails in Landmark Win for Patient Autonomy in CA Supreme Court RulingBijan Esfandiari, Medical Device News, Monique Alarcon, Pharmaceutical News, Press Releases, R. Brent Wisner
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Wisner Baum Names Los Angeles Attorney Monique Alarcon to PartnerMonique Alarcon, Press Releases
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Electroshock Therapy (ECT) Trial – Jury Finds Somatics Failed to Warn of ECT RisksBijan Esfandiari, Medical Device News, Monique Alarcon, Press Releases
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Gardasil HPV Vaccine StudiesBijan Esfandiari, Gardasil Lawsuit, Michael L. Baum, Monique Alarcon, Personal Injury, Pharmaceutical News, Stephanie Sherman
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Baum Hedlund Begins 2023 with a New Name: Wisner BaumAdam M. Foster, Ari S. Friedman, Bijan Esfandiari, Cara J. Luther, Clay Robbins III, Frances M. Phares, Helen E. Tokar, John A. Greaves, Mark H. Schlein, Matthew French, Michael L. Baum, Monique Alarcon, Pedram Esfandiary, Press Releases, R. Brent Wisner, Stephanie Sherman, Timothy A. Loranger, William Crawford Appleby
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Judge Certifies Black Lives Matter Class Action Lawsuit Against LAPDClass Action News, Monique Alarcon, Pedram Esfandiary, Police Misconduct , Timothy A. Loranger
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First Lawsuit Filed Against Gun Makers, Law Enforcement, and School District Stemming From Uvalde School ShootingMonique Alarcon, Personal Injury, Stephanie Sherman, Wrongful Death
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Judicial Panel Consolidates Gardasil Lawsuits in HPV Vaccine MDLBijan Esfandiari, Gardasil Lawsuit, Michael L. Baum, Monique Alarcon, Press Releases