Rasha Gerges Shields, a partner in Jones Day's Los Angeles Office, has been appointed co-chair of UCLA's independent fact-finding review and assessment of campus safety policies and procedures. Dr. Tyrone Howard, a UCLA professor of education and director of UCLA's Black Male Institute, will co-chair with Ms. Shields.

Ms. Shields, a UCLA Law graduate, is also co-chair of the Los Angeles Police Commission's Advisory Committee on Building Trust and Equity. She is president of the Arab American Lawyers Association of Southern California, immediate past president of the UCLA Law Alumni Association, a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association President's Task force on Racial and Social Justice, and co-chair of the Women's White Collar Defense Association's diversity committee.

"This is a much deserved appointment," said Karen P. Hewitt, Jones Day's Partner-in-Charge of the California Region. "Rasha's commitment to promoting racial justice and police reform, including her work with Jones Day's Constitutional Policing & Civil Justice Reform Initiative, as well as her UCLA background, make her an ideal choice to lead this assessment."

The review aims to ensure that the university's public safety policies and practices "protect the rights and well-being of every member of our community, fairly and respectfully," according to a release on the UCLA website. Ms. Shields and Dr. Howard will submit a report of their findings and recommendations at the end of their review, including short-term and long-term action steps, as well as a process for developing and implementing new public safety measures.

Ms. Shields has nearly 20 years of trial and appellate experience. She joined the Firm as an associate in 2003 and left in 2007 to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California and Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Section, rejoining Jones Day in 2014. She recently joined the Firm's new State Attorney General Enforcement, Investigations & Litigation Practice. She serves on Jones Day's Diversity, Inclusion and Advancement Committee, and received the California Minority Counsel Program's Law Firm Diversity Leader award in 2018.