Damon Brown hired as San Diego County’s new top lawyer, its fifth since 2020

San Diego County has a new top lawyer, its fifth since 2020.

Damon Brown, a top adviser to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, will lead the county’s legal office after getting confirmed unanimously Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors without debate.

At the Attorney General’s Office, Brown has handled a sizable portfolio, including civil and voting rights, immigration and consumer protection. He was previously Compton’s city attorney and worked in the private sector.

“I look forward to serving the county, the board and our residents with ethical, sound and practical legal counsel, and to supporting transparent and effective county government,” Brown said in a statement.

He starts Jan. 26.

“With Damon Brown at the helm, the County Counsel’s Office will be a force for accountability, fairness and effective government,” Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said in a statement.

The job has seen regular turnover since longtime county counsel Thomas Montgomery retired in 2020.

A lame-duck board controlled by Republicans replaced him with Thomas Bunton. But Bunton, who wasn’t the choice of newly elected Democrats, was replaced in 2021 by Lonnie Eldridge, the former city attorney for Simi Valley.

Eldridge didn’t last long, with supervisors putting him on leave without explanation in 2022. Claudia Silva succeeded him that same year. She resigned last year after an unexpected performance evaluation just after Democrats regained a board majority.

Several other positions in the office are newly vacant. Three assistant county counsels — Erica Cortez, Caitlin Rae and Heidi Skinner — departed Jan. 2. County spokesperson Tammy Glenn said they left to “pursue other opportunities.”

Brown could face other efforts to staff up his new office.

Lawson-Remer plans to introduce legislation to create a new consumer protection unit in the county counsel’s office. She has said that if it succeeds, hiring a leader for the unit would be a top priority for Brown, and she wants a 20-person staff for it, including 10 attorneys.

The county counsel’s office is meanwhile fielding dozens of lawsuits from the families of people who have died in jail and from people who say they were abused in juvenile detention and foster facilities decades ago.

Meanwhile, there is an ongoing investigation by the attorney general into possible civil rights abuses in the juvenile detention facilities. Brown worked on that probe with the Attorney General’s Office but has said he has no plans to recuse himself from the issue as county counsel.