Gerloni Cotton teaches Legal Research and Writing at UCLA School of Law. She is a core faculty member in the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law & Policy. Before joining the faculty, Gerloni was a trial attorney with the Federal Defenders of San Diego, where she was appointed to represent low-income people accused of immigration and border related offenses. As a Federal Defender, Gerloni tried several cases to verdict and litigated in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Gerloni also practiced private white collar criminal defense at Boise Schiller Flexner and Bienert Katzman LLP, where she represented individual and corporate clients nationwide in federal investigations and prosecutions. Gerloni began her legal career as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Salvador Mendoza Jr. of the U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Washington.

Gerloni earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan and J.D. from UCLA School of Law. Gerloni is a graduate of both the Critical Race Studies Program and the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy of the Law School. Prior to law school, Gerloni was an elementary school teacher for the New York City Department of Education.