Since I have been practicing criminal defense in all of the areas in which she said she worked, at the very time that she said she was working there, I am curious. I know most if not all of the DA’s and never had the privilege of seeing Mayor Johnson actually work in a criminal courtroom. Though I did see her go to the RCD Courthouse for a family law matter some 8-10 years ago.

I just got off the phone with the mayor, and she said was a Deputy DA on a pro bono basis for a year in the mid 1990s in order to gain trial experience. She said she served at juvenile east, juvenile west, and on the felony preliminary hearing and misdemeanor trial teams.

The above quote seems to infer that Beverly Johnson was an Alameda County prosecutor before entering private practice.

There are very higly qualified law school graduates who are vetted, interviewed and finally hired after meeting very stringent criteria to work as Deputy Alameda County District Attorneys. They dedicate their careers to prosecuting those arrested for crimes, and deserve our utmost respect and thanks. On the other hand, there are attorneys or law school graduates who do not undergo the hiring process, or do not succeed. They may volunteer their time without being paid (or foregoing their private incomes) for a short period of time (a few days a week for a month or two) in order to gain jury trial experience.

Can you please be specific about which Mayor Johnson is claiming? And if the latter, what level and how many cases did she try and when?

It seems from the comment that Mayor Johnson is claiming to have equal experience of someone like former Alameda County Deputy District Attorneys Kamela Harris and Russ Giuntini. They are Nos. 1 and 2 at the SFDA’s office. If this is the case, then she should certainly stand up and acknowledge her commitment. But if the main reason was to gain jury trial experience, the voters should be told this in a manner more forthright and less misleading.