City Government

Oakland City Attorney Hires Top Litigator as Special Counsel

Published

12 years ago

April 25, 2014

Oakland City Attorney’s Office has hired senior trial attorney Otis McGee as Special Counsel.

McGee most recently served as a Partner and Senior Trial Attorney at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, LLP. He started work in the City Attorney’s Office this month and is assigned to act as the Chief Assistant City Attorney in charge of litigation for the City of Oakland.

“Mr. McGee’s expertise, skill and leadership will be an extraordinary asset for the City of Oakland,” said City Attorney Barbara Parker. “As a top trial attorney with broad experience in complex areas of law, Otis is a tremendous addition to our legal team as we fight to protect the City’s resources and interests.”

McGee has nearly four decades of legal experience. He attended UC Berkeley Law School after serving as a police officer in Pacifica and as an investigator for the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office.

In 1980, he co-founded the firm Ocampo, Millner & McGee. Following several mergers, the firm became Alexander, Millner & McGee, at one time the largest minority-owned firm in in the country, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia.

McGee served as Managing Partner throughout the firm’s tenure.

McGee joined Sheppard Mullin as a partner in 1997. His areas of expertise include labor and employment, products liability, environmental and toxics matters and general commercial litigation.

He has substantial jury trial experience, including work for the City of Oakland, and has conducted numerous investigations for both public and private entities. In the products liability and consumer warranty arenas, he has represented manufacturers of automobiles and light trucks, consumer products, industrial equipment, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

McGee is also a trained arbitrator and mediator. He has been selected as a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Advocates and the Litigation Counsel of America.

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

2 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

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Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”