Governor names new bar board member

William Gailey, a private investigator with a long career in law enforcement, was appointed as a public member of the State Bar Board of Governors by Gov. Schwarzenegger last month. Gailey, 59, currently serves as chair of the investigation and intelligence gathering firm, Gailey Associates. A Democrat, he served as the public safety liaison for Californians for Schwarzenegger 2006.

Gailey

His Long Beach-based firm, founded in 1989, provides litigation support to the business community, and its clients include insurance companies, municipalities, corporations and law firms.

With more than 30 years of experience in the public and private sectors, Gailey said he has worked extensively with lawyers and is interested in the law. He added that he comes to the board with no particular agenda and “will weigh in with the perspective of a public member.”

From 1968-1991, Gailey worked for the Los Angeles Police Department and served many years as a detective in the robbery-homicide division. Prior to that time, he was a Sergeant E-5 Paratrooper in the U.S. Army Air-borne Unit.

His 21-employee firm, which also has an office in Los Angeles and a computer forensics laboratory in Orange County, handles a variety of practice areas, including employment law relating to sexual harassment, workplace violence and workers’ compensation; police agency internal affairs investigations; and computer forensics.

Gailey currently serves on the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services Disciplinary Review Committee and is a member of the California Association of Licensed Investigators and the California Homicide Investigators Association.

There currently are four public members of the board, and the governor has two remaining vacancies to fill. If confirmed by the Senate, Gailey’s term will run until 2008. He replaces John Snetsinger, a history professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.