Gigi Birchfield is the Managing Partner of the Southern California offices of Major, Lindsey & Africa (Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego) ), and co-Global Practice Leader for the firm's In-House Practice. Gigi graduated with a B.A. in English, magna cum laude, in 1982 from Claremont McKenna College. She received her J.D. in 1986 from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law. Gigi began her legal career at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Los Angeles, where she practiced law for six years as a real estate transactional attorney. In 1992 she joined Citicorp Real Estate, Inc. as Assistant General Counsel in its Los Angeles office, where she was responsible for supervising the legal function for all of the CREI offices in the Western Region: Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Francisco.

In January of 2001 Gigi opened the Southern California office of Major, Lindsey & Africa and was responsible for growing and managing the office from its inception.  In addition to being the Managing Partner of the Southern California offices for the past 10 years, Gigi has held various management positions such as Office Practice Leader and Regional Practice Manager (In-House), as well as her current role as co-Global Practice Leader for the In House group.  Gigi’s recruiting practice has focused primarily on conducting in-house searches across industry lines, both nationwide and local, with a special emphasis on the placement of senior attorneys, including General Counsel. Gigi has also placed partners in law firms, and has assisted out of state law firm clients in opening a Los Angeles office.

Gigi resides in the Los Feliz area with her husband Mark and their three children and two dogs. She is proud to say that her eldest daughter is a senior in college, at Gigi’s alma mater, while the other two kids are in middle school and high school, respectively. In her spare time, Gigi enjoys reading, spending time with her family, and gardening (and has been known to bring the “fruits of her labor” into the LA office). Gigi is very involved with her alma mater, having been a past president and current board member of the Claremont McKenna College Alumni Association as well as an ex-officio member of CMC's Board of Trustees.  Gigi is also serving on the board of the Berger Institute for Work, Family and Children, and is proud to be a member of the Support Council for The Rape Treatment Center and Stuart House.