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Office of the County Counsel
Office of the County Counsel

Daily Journal’s California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY)

The CLAY Awards recognize lawyers for their achievements that have had a major impact on society and the law.  

 

2021 CLAY Award for leadership in response to COVID-19 pandemic 

In 2021, our Office received the Daily Journal’s California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) award for our leadership role in shaping the regional, statewide, and national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.   

The award recognized our attorneys for working with our colleagues in the County Public Health Department to lead a coalition of Bay Area communities that issued the first set of shelter-in-place orders in the nation.   

These orders quickly became a model that were adopted by other jurisdictions, including the State of California. We also worked with our County Health Officer to issue the first orders in California requiring large healthcare providers to report on available personal protective equipment (PPE) and to provide COVID-19 testing to their patients. The orders came in the early days of the pandemic when the public could not readily access critical supplies and testing. Experts credited the County’s early actions with preventing the uncontrolled spread of the virus and saving thousands of lives.  

The award also recognized us for working with the County’s District Attorney to develop one of the first civil enforcement programs in the state to improve compliance with the County and State health orders. Through these enforcement efforts, the County brought the vast majority of businesses into voluntary compliance with public health requirements, allowing them to operate as safely as possible to protect their employees and the public.   

Finally, the award recognized our attorneys for successfully defending the public health orders against lawsuits challenging their validity in federal and state court, and for participating as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in cases involving executive emergency authority.  

 

2018 CLAY Award for successful litigation relating to “sanctuary jurisdictions” 

In 2018, Former County Counsel James R. Williams, former Chief Assistant County Counsel Greta Hansen, Chief Assistant County Counsel Kavita Narayan, Deputy County Counsel Laura Trice, and other former Deputy County Counsels received the CLAY award for their successful litigation of County of Santa Clara v. Trump, Case No. 17-574 (N.D. Cal.), Case No. 17-17480 (9th Cir.), in which the County obtained a permanent injunction blocking enforcement of former President Trump’s Executive Order that threatened to defund so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions.”   

Weeks into President Trump’s term, the County filed a lawsuit in federal court against President Donald Trump and members of his administration challenging an Executive Order that sought to deny all federal funding to any state or local government that declined to assist the federal government with its immigration enforcement efforts.  The lawsuit challenged the President’s constitutional authority to issue the Executive Order, and the federal government’s power to impose its political will on states and localities with different policy preferences.   

The County successfully obtained a preliminary injunction, then a permanent injunction, blocking enforcement of the Executive Order in California.   

In announcing the award winners, the Daily Journal wrote that the award honored “lawyers in California who used their considerable talents to bring about fairness. Yes, fairness for clients but also fairness for society ... their pursuit of justice was admirable.”