DEFENSE ATTORNEY'S CLIENTS OF CHOICE: COPS.

Byline: Kermit Pattison Daily News Staff Writer

The mementos in Alan Wisotsky's office are unlike those found in an ordinary law firm.

There is the sawed-off rifle pulled by a suspect seconds before dying in a hail of police bullets, a deputy's clublike sap and photos of beaming cops outside federal court after winning a lawsuit over the fatal shooting of an armed suspect.

If the knickknacks seem peculiar, it's because the Thousand Oaks resident has dedicated much of his career to an unusual law practice - defending Ventura County officers from lawsuits alleging false arrest and excessive force.

``If you have an honest client and a good case, you are going to prevail, regardless of the public view of police, '' Wisotsky, 48, said as he sat in his Oxnard office on a recent morning.

Over the past two decades, the former cop has defended hundreds of cases filed against Ventura County officers. He now serves as special counsel to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department and police departments in Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Ventura.

He gets up in the middle of the night to go to the scenes of police shootings in case they someday result in a lawsuit. He goes to the jail when inmates hang themselves. And when cops get hit with civil lawsuits, he goes to court to defend them.

``He's an experienced trial attorney with a good record,'' said David Shain, an Oxnard attorney who formerly worked for Wisotsky and more recently has opposed him in litigation. ``Anyone who would try a case against Mr. Wisotsky would consider him to be a formidable adversary. Alan is very thorough in his case preparation and follows the prescription for a trial attorney that nothing beats complete and total preparation.''

Born in Brooklyn, Wisotsky moved to California as a young boy in the 1950s with his family. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley, where at least one teacher pegged him as a future lawyer.

In a note now enshrined in a glass cabinet in Wisotsky's office, his fifth-grade teacher wrote, ``I shall expect to hear your case in the Supreme Court - you've done an excellent legal job.''

But Wisotsky's first career did not take him to the practice of law - he started by enforcing it. He joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1969 but resigned three years later, he said, under pressure from his family.

``Nice Jewish boys didn't become police officers,'' he said. ``They became lawyers.''

He went to work as an insurance adjuster and attended law school at night. After graduating from Southwestern University School of Law in 1975, Wisotsky did a stint with a Los Angeles law firm, then moved to Ventura County to join the firm Spray, Gould and Bowers. Because of his background as a police officer, the firm began steering police misconduct cases toward him.

In his first jury trial on a police case, he successfully defended a sheriff's deputy sued for injuring a suspect's eye with a sap - a weighted leather club - during a fight. He still keeps the sap in his office, with the name of the officer still visible in the leather - Ken Kipp, now a high-level administrator with the Sheriff's Department and a close friend.

``The jury came back after deliberating no more than 30 minutes or so,'' recalled Kipp. ``In fact, the jury came up and apologized to me for making me go through it. At that point, I had a friend for life in Alan Wisotsky.

``Alan is the type of person that does the right thing,'' said Kipp. ``Obviously, he has to protect the interests of his client, but he's a man of integrity. With him, the practice of law is the practice of seeking the truth, not gamesmanship.''

Wisotsky formed his own practice in 1983. He now employs three other attorneys and a support staff of five in his office at the Oxnard Town Center.

A resident of the North Ranch neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, Wisotsky has four children. He is married to psychotherapist Beverly Cross. Outside his law practice, he likes to take off in his private plane and fly to remote fishing spots.

Wisotsky estimates that he has handled more than 250 police defense cases. Some are settled out of court, but of those that have gone to trial, he said, he has had an unfavorable verdict only once. Last month, he won dismissal of a federal lawsuit against the county Sheriff's Department and district attorney filed by a man mistakenly jailed for a string of rapes in the Ojai Valley.

``I've been able to dodge the bullet almost every time,'' he said.

Wisotsky acknowledges that Ventura County jurors are staunchly pro-law enforcement and thus more likely to come down on the side of cops. In fact, he said, opposing attorneys are filing a greater number of the cases in federal court for the more diverse jury pool.

One key in defending cops, he said, is to put the juror in the officer's boots. Give the juror the feeling of confronting an armed suspect after a high-speed chase on a dark night with sirens and light blazing. Make the juror feel the frisson of terror at the sound of a 12-gauge shotgun being pumped, as a cop might hear in a tight situation.

``Police officers are human beings with the same feelings and emotions and concerns as any other person on this Earth,'' Wisotsky said. ``While they're trained in dealing with high-stress situations, they're still subject to fear and personal harm. They don't give up the right to self-defense just because they put on a badge and carry a service weapon.''

In fact, Wisotsky said, he has become close friends with many of the cops he defended.

``While I'm satisfied and convinced I made the right decision to leave active law enforcement to practice law, I do miss it,'' he said. ``This gives me the contact with law enforcement officers. I go on ride-alongs with these guys. Some of my closest friends are officers I have defended.''

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Photo

Photo: Alan Wisotsky holds a gun from a suit over the shoot ing of a suspect.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News