City Attorney of San Francisco

The city attorney of San Francisco is an elected position in the City and County of San Francisco, California. While city-county consolidation resulted in the unified government having both a city attorney and a district attorney, the two positions are separate and serve different purposes. Whereas the district attorney's office is, as is the case throughout the United States, charged with prosecuting crimes (i.e. has the equivalent function of a Prosecutor's Office in other countries), the city attorney provides legal services to the mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and the rest of the city and county administration; examines surety bonds, contracts and ordinances; and represents the city and county administration in civil claims, formally as a representative of the people of the State of California. The city attorney is assisted by a number of assistant city attorneys. In the 1996 city charter, the office is currently governed by section 6.102, last amended in 2002.

1. History

Prior to 1856, the City of San Francisco had a city attorney but no district attorney, while the County of San Francisco (encompassing the territory of the city and more) had a district attorney but no county attorney. After the city-county consolidation in July 1856, the incumbent city and district attorneys continued as "attorney and counsellor" and "district attorney" respectively, each of the new "City and County of San Francisco". The 1854 city attorney election had been marred by allegations of ballot stuffing, and in 1857 Frederick Palmer Tracy was appointed by the Board of Supervisors. An 1862 act of the California State Legislature made the position of city attorney subject to popular election every two years. The first woman to hold the position was Louise Renne in 1986, appointed by then-mayor Dianne Feinstein following the death of previous city attorney George Agnost.

1. List of City Attorneys

Ayuntamiento attorney during interim government of California

Archibald Carey Peachy (1849–50) City attorney

Thomas H. Holt (1850–51) Frank M. Pixley (1851–52) Charles McC. Delany (Jan–Nov 1852) John K. Hackett (1852–53) Solomon A. Sharp (1853–54) Lorenzo Sawyer (1854–55) Balie Peyton (1855–56) City and county attorney

Balie Peyton (1856–57) Frederick Palmer Tracy (1857–1860) Samuel Wirt Holladay (1860–1861) John H. Saunders (1861–66) Horace M. Hastings (1866–69) Joseph M. Nougues (1869–71) Wellington Cleveland Burnett (1871–80) John Luttrell Murphy (1880–82) Jabez F. Cowdery (1882–83) William Craig (1883–85) John Lord Love (1885–87) George Flournoy, Jr. (1887–91) John H. Durst (1891–93) Harry T. Creswell (1893–1898) James L. Gallagher (1898–1899) Franklin Knight Lane (1899–1902) Percy V. Long (1902–1906) William G. Burke (1906–1908) Percy V. Long (1908–1916) George Lull (1916–1926) John J. O'Toole (1926–1949) Dion R. Holm (1949–1961) Thomas Martin O'Connor (1961–1977) George Agnost (1977–1986) Philip Ward (1986) Louise Renne (1986–2001) Dennis Herrera (2002–2021) David Chiu (2021–present)

1. Sources

San Francisco Board of Supervisors (1911). "Appendix; List of Public Officers of the City and County". San Francisco Municipal Reports for the Fiscal Year 1909–10, Ended June 30, 1910. San Francisco: Neal. pp. 1282–1435. Shuck, Oscar Tully (1889). Bench and Bar in California: History, Anecdotes, Reminiscences. Occident. Shuck, Oscar Tully (1901). History of the Bench and Bar of California. Los Angeles: Commercial.

1. References


1. External links

City Attorney of San Francisco official website

Nearby Places View Menu

San Francisco City Hall

San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. Re-opened in 1915 in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, it is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the 1880s to 1917. The structure's dome is taller than that of the United States Capitol by 42 feet (13 m). The present building replaced an earlier City Hall that was destroyed during the 1906 earthquake, which was two blocks from the present one. The principal architect was Arthur Brown, Jr., of Bakewell & Brown, whose attention to the finishing details extended to the doorknobs and the typeface to be used in signage. Brown also designed the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, Veterans Building, Temple Emanuel, Coit Tower and the Federal office building at 50 United Nations Plaza.

Government Landmark

Assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk

On November 27, 1978, George Moscone, the 37th mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, were both shot and killed inside San Francisco City Hall by former supervisor Dan White. On the morning of that day, Moscone intended to announce that the Supervisor position from which White had previously resigned would be given to someone else. White, angered, entered City Hall before the scheduled announcement and first shot Moscone in the Mayor's office, then Milk in White's former office space, before escaping the building. Board of Supervisors president Dianne Feinstein first announced Moscone and Milk's deaths to the media, and because of Moscone's death, succeeded him as acting mayor. White was charged with first-degree murder with circumstances that made him eligible for the death penalty. However, on May 21, 1979, White was convicted of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, which resulted in the White Night riots and the abolition of the diminished capacity criminal defense in California. It also led to the commonly cited "Twinkie defense", as the defense had stated in passing that White's diminished capacity was partially evidenced by his consumption of sugar-laden junk food. White committed suicide in 1985, a year and a half after his release from prison. Feinstein was elected by the Board of Supervisors to become the first female mayor of San Francisco on December 4, 1978, a title she would hold for the next ten years. She eventually became a United States senator for California until her death in 2023.

Government Landmark

Statue of Abraham Lincoln (San Francisco)

An outdoor 1926 bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln by Armenian American artist Haig Patigian is installed in Civic Center, San Francisco, California.

Landmark Monument

Main Library (San Francisco)

The Main Library is the primary library of the San Francisco Public Library, located in San Francisco's Civic Center.

Library