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Office of the City Attorney
Read the profile of City Attorney Dennis Herrera in the June issue of San Francisco magazine: "The Other Man: The untold story behind San Francisco's audacious fight that led to the California Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage" by Susan Kostal (Photograph by Lenny Gonzalez).
TAKING A STAND: "Doing what we can do to ensure civil rights for everyone is not something we are going to back away from," San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera says of same-sex marriages. Read the Los Angeles Times profile by Lee Romney.
The City Attorney's Good Government Guide for 2007-08 (PDF, 1.1 MB) and the accompanying Good Government Guide Supplement (PDF, 1.1 MB) are available to download online. And that's not all: the City Attorney's Office has made available online an entire panoply of Sunshine & Good Government Resources, including archived editions of the Good Government Guide. Officials can comply with the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance and AB 1234 by visiting our Sunshine and Good Government Resources page. The resources page includes the online training video of Rules of Conduct for Public Officials 2008. Officials can fulfill their annual Sunshine training requirement by watching the Sunshine portion of the video. Officials can also fulfill their biennial ethics training requirement under state law (AB 1234) by watching the entire video and completing the Self-Study Test for 2008. To comply with the Sunshine Ordinance, each official must submit a Sunshine Ordinance Declaration by April 1 (or, for newly appointed officials, within 30 days of assuming office) to the San Francisco Ethics Commission at 25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 220 in San Francisco. Each official also must submit a Certificate of Ethics Training upon completion of the AB1234 requirements.
Online viewers now have the opportunity to view the office's training program on bond disclosure responsibilities under federal disclosure laws. The two sessions below reflect training programs oriented toward City employees as well as such City officials as San Francisco Supervisors and City commissioners. View the Bond Disclosure Presentation for Employees View the Bond Disclosure Presentation for Board Members and Commissioners
The City and County of San Francisco and the County of Santa Clara have joined in filing suit against the state for illegally preventing disadvantaged youth from receiving Medi-Cal benefits while they are in the custody of a public institution and immediately following their release. Said City Attorney Herrera when the case was filed in October 2007: "By denying Medi-Cal benefits to underprivileged youth in custody, and by increasing their vulnerability by not restoring coverage to them upon their release, state administrators are betraying the promise of a federal program intended to ensure medical coverage for our most vulnerable residents." View the City Attorney's Media Advisory on the Feb. 8, 2008 hearing in S.F. Superior Court(Feb. 7, 2008) View the City Attorney's News Release on the filing of the lawsuit against the State of California (Oct. 16, 2007) Download the PDF of the City Attorney's e-Presskit on the San Francisco/Santa Clara case against the State, which includes the news release and the complaint (Oct. 16, 2007)
City Attorney Dennis Herrera and District Attorney Kamala D. Harris have issued a joint statement to accompany the City's release of documents pertaining to the San Francisco's participation in the U.S. Department of Justice's Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative. Read the joint statement by the City Attorney and District Attorney (April 9, 2008) Download the PDF of public documents pertaining to the City's participation in the SWBPI program (April 9, 2008)
City Attorney Herrera and CHAKO have announced a settlement of the last remaining claim challenging the validity of a City ordinance requiring pit bull owners to spay or neuter their pets. The agreement will accommodate certain pet owners with disabilities (June 3, 2008)
The City Attorney's Office has denied claims against the City by two brothers involved in a Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo. The claimants have been referred to the S.F. Zoological Society and its insurer, which also insures the City, pursuant to the terms of its 1993 Lease and Management Agreement. Download a PDF copy of the Dhaliwal brothers' claim denial and referral letters (May 9, 2008) Download a PDF copy of the Dhaliwal brothers' claims against the City (March 26, 2008) Download a PDF copy of the Lease and Management Agreement between the City and the S.F. Zoological Society (July 1, 1993)
After working for months with legal officials in several Bay Area cities to monitor the California Department of Food and Agriculture's plans to pursue aerial spraying to eradicate the light brown apple moth, City Attorney Herrera responded to the CDFA's announcement to halt the spray. Read City Attorney Herrera's statement on the CDFA's decision to halt the LBAM spray program (June 19, 2008) Read the City Attorney's Office's previous statement on the status of the matter in the wake of the Santa Cruz County Superior Court decision (May 12, 2008) |
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The City and County of San Francisco, the City of Los Angeles and the County of Santa Clara have sued to invalidate Proposition 8, an initiative constitutional amendment that intends to deprive gay and lesbian citizens of their fundamental right to marry in California. Said Herrera: "If allowed to stand, Prop 8 so devastates the principle of equal protection that it endangers the fundamental rights of any potential electoral minority -- even for protected classes based on race, religion, national origin and gender."
City Attorney Herrera is defending against legal challenges by Walgreens and Philip Morris to the recently enacted ordinance banning the sale of tobacco products at pharmacies in the City. Updated documents will be posted here as they become available.
 
City Attorney Herrera has filed suit against five municipal bond insurers for an elaborate web of anticompetitive practices, negligence and fraud that has been exposed by the recent meltdown in the subprime mortgage market.
The City Attorney's Office has worked for nearly three years defending the City's Bicycle Plan from legal challenges. With an injunction in place since June 2006, the City was ordered in Nov. 2006 to complete and consider environmental review before the plan can move forward.
City Attorney Herrera vowed an aggressive defense to a lawsuit by California Restaurant Association challenging the validity of San Francisco's menu labeling ordinance, which requires certain chain restaurants to disclose on their menus the amount of calories, saturated fat, carbohydrates and sodium for each listed item.
City Attorney Herrera has filed suit against ExxonMobil for its defiant refusal to address environmental damage caused by decades of disposal and release of hazardous petroleum products on property owned by the Port of San Francisco in the City’s Fisherman’s Wharf area.
The cover story of BusinessWeek's June 16, 2008 issue features City Attorney Herrera's litigation against the National Arbitration Forum.
In a decision that City Attorney Herrera said "affirmed our Constitution's promise of equality for millions of Californians and their families," the California Supreme Court has invalidated state marriage laws that discriminate against lesbian and gay partners. Herrera, who filed the City's constitutional challenge in March 2004, continues to fight efforts by anti-gay interests to delay the ruling from taking effect.
City Attorney Herrera and the San Francisco Health Plan, the City-sponsored program that provides health insurance to more than 50,000 low-income San Franciscans, today filed suit against McKesson Corp. for illegally conspiring to manipulate pharmaceutical drug prices beginning as far back as 2001.
City Attorney Herrera continues to lead the City's legal defense of the groundbreaking "Healthy San Francisco" program following a key victory in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Opponents have vowed to continue their appeal.
An agreement among the City Attorney's Office, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area has established an administrative process by which individuals named in civil gang injunctions may petition to "opt out" from the court ordered provisions in a manner that "is fair, transparent, accessible, and recognizes that individuals can and do change for the better."
Gang Injunction Cases
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Welcome to our online law office. San Francisco has long been at the forefront of legal efforts to protect consumers, defend the integrity of our public institutions and advance civil rights for every American. I'm proud to continue that tradition as City Attorney, and my office remains committed to providing our City with the best legal representation. It's my pleasure to offer this Web site as a means to make my office more open and accessible to the people it serves. Thanks for visiting.
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So You Want to be a Law School Intern...Volunteer, clinical and work-study internships in the San Francisco City Attorney's Office are available year-round to 1st, 2nd and 3rd year law students. Learn how to apply here and see upcoming application deadlines. Also, be sure to read ourIntern Program FAQs. |
So You Want to Request a Public Record...The Office of the City Attorney provides information resources to those requesting public records in San Francisco, including our FAQ page entited, "Access to Public Records in San Francisco." Also, visit the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force Web site. |
So You Want to Perform Legal Services...The City Attorney has issued an RFP seeking experienced firms to perform court reporting services. To learn more about this and other opportunities to do business with the City, click here. |
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