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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.
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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The City and County of San Francisco has been joined by fourteen local governments and seven married couples in challenging the legal validity of Proposition 8, the narrowly-approved constitutional amendment that would eliminate the fundamental right of marriage for gay and lesbian citizens, and potentially nullify marriages of thousands of lawfully wedded couples. Said Herrera: "The political activists who brought us Proposition 8 are now asking the Supreme Court for a blank check to discriminate -- a judicial declaration of open season on disfavored minority groups, with no state constitutional protection to stand in the way."
San Francisco and 13 states have reached an agreement with MillerCoors to stop producing caffeinated alcoholic beverages. The multi-jurisdictional investigation found the drinks to be unsafe, deceptively advertised, and illegally marketed to young people. As a result of the agreement, MillerCoors will no longer produce caffeinated "Sparks," "Sparks Plus," "Sparks Light," or other alcoholic energy drinks.
City Attorney Herrera is moving to enable key public safety improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians in San Francisco by requesting modifications to a July 2007 court order that generally prohibits the City from implementing its 2004 Bicycle Plan until it has fully evaluated possible environmental impacts. Leading the list of proposed safety improvements is the Market and Octavia intersection, where cyclists have suffered an alarming increase in collisions with cars.
 
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 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.
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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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