The city and county attorneys who represent San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose and Santa Clara have joined together to form a Civil Prosecutors Coalition to advocate for their local communities.

Civil attorneys in government have an important role in advising and counseling government officials and in handling the legal affairs of their governmental organizations. Among their lesser known responsibilities are to initiate and prosecute cases where it is in the best interests of their citizens and workers.

The members of the CPC expect to work together to help shape legislation that with strengthen their hands in future litigation.

“As civil prosecutors, we take seriously our responsibility to protect consumers, workers, and those who live in our communities. We look forward to working directly with our state’s legislators to shape the state laws we are charged with enforcing in ways that will help us increase these protections for the public,” said San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott, who will chair the group.

The vice chair is David Chiu, the San Francisco city attorney. Other members are Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti and City Attorneys Nora Frimann from San Jose and Barbara Parker from Oakland.

As civil prosecutors, we take seriously our responsibility to protect consumers, workers, and those who live in our communities. We look forward to working directly with our state’s legislators to shape the state laws we are charged with enforcing in ways that will help us increase these protections for the public. San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott

Collectively, the attorneys represent the interests of millions of California citizens. 

Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, said that historically there hasn’t been an organization for city and county attorneys in California. 

Kwart said that the CPC will “provide a space for city attorneys and county counsels, who have authority to bring affirmative cases on behalf of the People of the State of California under California’s Unfair Competition Law, to share ideas and strategies.”

She added that the group also expects “to advocate at the state level to increase protections for local communities, workers, consumers, and the environment.”

Parker added, “Our partnership will make it possible to further protect workers’ rights and tenants’ rights; prohibit predatory lending; secure laws that promote equal opportunity and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age; and secure climate justice.”

Joe Dworetzky is a second career journalist. He practiced law in Philadelphia for more than 35 years, representing private and governmental clients in commercial litigation and insolvency proceedings. Joe served as City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia under Mayor Ed Rendell and from 2009 to 2013 was one of five members of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission with responsibility for managing the city’s 250 public schools. He moved to San Francisco in 2011 and began writing fiction and pursuing a lifelong interest in editorial cartooning. Joe earned a Master’s in Journalism from Stanford University in 2020. He covers Legal Affairs and writes long form Investigative stories. His occasional cartooning can be seen in Bay Area Sketchbook. Joe encourages readers to email him story ideas and leads at joe.dworetzky@baycitynews.com.