Spotlight: Experiential Learning at the San Francisco City Attorney鈥檚 Office
The San Francisco City Attorney鈥檚 Office welcomes some of the brightest law students from across the country into its ranks every semester. Interns work closely with deputy city attorneys, receive mentoring, and build skills as they contribute to legal projects in an office known for pioneering municipal impact litigation and providing the day-to-day legal muscle that keeps San Francisco functioning.
Thanks partly to its proximity to City Hall, UC Law SF has a storied history with the office. The late Burk 鈥淏uck鈥 Delventhal 鈥69, spent his entire career there 鈥49 years鈥攁s a city servant and steward of the City Charter. His enthusiasm as a Hastings adjunct led scores of students into government work.
Today, Deputy City Attorney Virginia Dario Elizondo 鈥81 teaches UC Law SF鈥 local government law seminar as an adjunct professor and serves as a mentor for students. She joined the City Attorney鈥檚 Office in 1989 and works on the Health and Human Services team.
鈥淕overnment law offers challenging and timely questions that affect our daily lives and our communities,鈥 Elizondo said. 鈥淚 am still engaged in the issues that inspired me to become a lawyer. I had wonderful mentors along the way, notably Buck, who still guides me. I enjoy working with the interns. I find them creative and refreshing.鈥
Many UC Law SF alums have passed through the City Attorney鈥檚 Office on their career paths, including Kamala Harris 鈥89, who served there from 2000 to 2004 and ran the Children & Family Services Team, handling child abuse and neglect cases. Classmate Matthew Davis 鈥89 was with the office from 1992 to 2001, where he prosecuted a number of groundbreaking consumer protection lawsuits, including one in which Bank of America was accused of mishandling government bond funds, which settled for $187 million.
Today, more than three dozen Hastings alums work in the City Attorney鈥檚 Office, including four team managers. They are Kimiko Burton 鈥90, head of the Children & Family Services Team; Theresa Mueller 鈥94, head of the Energy & Telecommunications Team; Katharine Porter 鈥94, who heads the Employment Law Team; and Matthew Rothschild 鈥85, who heads the Claims Team.
Finding an On-Ramp
UC Law SF students interested in working with the City Attorney’s Office have four options.聽They can volunteer in a no-credit internship during the summer or school year.聽Or, in the fall, they can earn three to five units and co-enroll in the Legal Externships seminar. Or, in the spring, they can earn four or five units and co-enroll in Hastings’ Local Government Clinic.聽Lastly, students can participate in other clinics, such as the Environmental Law Clinic, and apply to a relevant team, such as Land Use. For all four options, students apply directly to the City Attorney’s Office.
Each program offers a slightly different experience. Students are team members who draft briefs, contracts, and legislation, and participate in attorney-client meetings and research a myriad of interesting questions. They work on the pressing legal cases and issues the office handles, such as supporting public health initiatives in response to the coronavirus pandemic or San Francisco鈥檚 bid to acquire certain PG&E assets to create safe, affordable, and reliable public power.
Government Team
Aaron Chase 鈥20 was embedded with the city鈥檚 Government Team his Fall 2019 semester. His cubicle was right next to Delventhal鈥檚 office.
Aaron Chase ’20
鈥淗e would casually walk up and ask what I was working on. He would effectively offer me private little classes about the law.鈥 Often, Chase said, Delventhal gave him assignments to make sure he understood the law better. 鈥淗e was a brilliant man, and I adored listening to him. It was all off the top of his head. I wish I had known enough in the moment to take notes on everything he said. He cared so much about the law, and he made you care about it, too.鈥
Chase worked on interpretation of 鈥渟unshine鈥 or open-governance ordinances, as well as immunity standards for law enforcement officers. His favorite project, however, was updating materials regarding the city鈥檚 legal rights during disasters, such as when the city invoked martial law following the 1906 earthquake.
COVID Response
3L Kristin Lahaszow interned for the Government Team during Spring 2020, and then worked as a summer associate with Jones Day鈥檚 San Diego office. After graduation, she will return to Jones Day, and hopes to work in local government someday.
Kristen Lahaszow ’20
鈥淎s the COVID-19 situation progressed, I was asked to look at the statutory provisions cited in the first Public Health Order and look into any possible cases where violations of similar health orders were held accountable 鈥 either through fines or arrest.
鈥淭his was extremely interesting because there was very little case law on this topic because this is such a unique and unprecedented experience. Seeing how quickly all sectors of local government sprang into action in partnership with the private sector was an invaluable insight into collaborative teamwork.鈥
Land Use Team
Kristin Glover 鈥20 spent her 2L summer in 2019 with the city鈥檚 Land Use Team. She called it 鈥渁 priceless opportunity.鈥 聽She鈥檚 now clerking with the Alaska Supreme Court, after her supervisor at the City Attorney鈥檚 Office suggested she apply for the position. She plans to take the February 2021 California bar exam.
Kristin Glover ’20
鈥淚 sat in on meetings with representatives from the Board of Supervisors and city planners, as well as settlement conferences. I worked on everything from short research memos to writing a summary and analysis of a recently decided U.S. Supreme Court decision, and then presenting that at a team meeting.鈥
She also assisted in researching and drafting a brief for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and later attended oral arguments for the case. 鈥淚t was invaluable to observe brilliant attorneys in action, watching them run circles around opposing counsel, while being privy to their strategy and preparation,鈥 she said. 鈥淪an Francisco has long been known as a place at the forefront of technological and cultural innovation, but it is also a city on the cutting edge of local government, and being able to witness that first hand was a priceless opportunity.鈥
Learn More
Learn more from interns and their experiences . Applications for the Spring 2021 session are due Oct. 16, 2020.