Casey Gwinn

Casey Gwinn, Esq., serves as the President of Alliance for HOPE International. He has been recognized by American Lawyer magazine as one of the top 45 public lawyers in America.

Mr. Gwinn served as the elected San Diego City Attorney from 1996 to 2004. Prior to elected office, he founded the City Attorney’s Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Unit, leading the unit from 1986 to 1996, and prosecuting both misdemeanor and felony cases. In 1993, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges recognized his unit as the model prosecution unit in the Nation. 

During Mr. Gwinn’s tenure, the unit’s work was honored for playing a major role in the 90-percent drop in domestic violence homicides in the City of San Diego over the previous 20 years. San Diego now has the lowest domestic violence homicide rate of any major city in the Nation. He was the visionary behind the San Diego Family Justice Center (FJC), with 25 agencies under one roof serving victims of violence in a collaborative multiagency model, and launching the national FJC movement. Today, there are FJCs in 40 states. 

Mr. Gwinn has received many local and national awards, including the Stephen L. Lewis Lecturer of Merit Award from the National College of District Attorneys; the San Diego Domestic Violence Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award; the Women’s International Living Legacy Award; the San Diego Press Club’s Diogenes Award; the San Diego Mediation Center’s Peacemaker Award; the San Diego Ecumenical Council’s Christian Unity Award; Lifetime Television’s Times Square Salute Award; the Advocate of the Year Award, presented on Disability Independence Day; the California Peace Prize from the California Wellness Foundation; New York’s Abely Award for Leading Women and Children to Safety; and the Avon Foundation’s Community Advocate of the Year Award. 

Mr. Gwinn is the founder of Camp HOPE America, now operating in 11 states. Camp HOPE is the first specialized camp in America focused on children exposed to domestic violence.