Elizabeth Little

Elizabeth S. Little is committed to criminal defense and has experience working on both state and federal criminal cases. Prior to joining Werksman Jackson & Quinn LLP, she worked as a law clerk in the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Public Defender's Office, and as a judicial extern for the Honorable Philip S. Gutierrez of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

While obtaining her law degree, Ms. Little worked for the Post-Conviction Justice Project, a criminal justice clinic at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where she obtained favorable results for her clients on parole and habeas matters. As a certified law student, Ms. Little conducted oral argument before the California Court of Appeal, and persuaded the Court that Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012) should apply retroactively to state court decisions on habeas review, and that her client was serving an unconstitutional life without parole sentence for a crime he committed when he was 17 years old. As a law student, Ms. Little also worked significantly on interpreting and advocating for new legislation that benefits juveniles who are serving lengthy adult prison sentences, including Penal Code § 1170(d)(2) (previously Senate Bill 9), Senate Bill 260, and Senate Bill 261.

Published Works:

Note, Miller v. Alabama: A Proposed Solution for a Court that Feels Strongly Both Ways, S. Cal. L. Rev. 2015

Representative Cases:

In re Wilson, 233 Cal.App.4th 544 (2015)

Honors and Awards

• Southern California Law Review, Senior Submissions Editor, 2014-2015

Professional Associations and Memberships

• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers