SAN JOSE — Damon Silver, a veteran South Bay attorney who has headed the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office for the past year on an interim basis, was appointed this week as the permanent chief public defender by the Board of Supervisors.
Starting Monday, Silver will officially lead the agency where he has spent the past three decades. He has served as a line-level attorney, chief trial deputy and later as a top executive under his predecessor Molly O’Neal, who was the county’s longest-serving public defender before retiring a year ago and endorsed Silver to succeed her.
Silver, a 55-year-old North County resident, said he was appreciative of the support from county leadership, adding that his appointment preserves vital continuity in the office that will help them maximize their mission to help vulnerable and indigent people disproportionately ensnared in the criminal court system.
“The office has a long tradition of being very client-centered and focusing all decisions through the lens of what’s best for the community and the specific clients we serve,” Silver said in an interview. “We spent generations building that office culture … and I am now the next recipient of that baton from Molly and her many years of leadership, to continue to advance those goals.”
Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee said of Silver’s selection: “We are proud to see a leader with such deep institutional knowledge and community partnership rise to lead the public defender’s office.”
County Executive James Williams, who previously served as County Counsel, said Silver “will continue to uphold the dignity and rights of the clients it serves, while fostering trust and partnership with our diverse communities in Santa Clara County and leading transformation across our criminal justice system.”
Silver, who attended UC Davis for both his undergraduate and law degrees, has been in Santa Clara County since 1998. In describing his legal philosophy for his office, he recalled the late-1800s law icon Clara Foltz, the first woman to practice law on the West Coast and who pioneered the concept of publicly funded criminal defense.
“The legal system should not just be a sword, it should be a shield. And so in many ways I see us as playing that role of the shield in a balanced system,” he said. “We are uplifting the voices of the community, and most importantly, the community that’s impacted by the criminal-legal system.
“I mean not just serving clients on their individual criminal cases, but really looking at the reasons they are entangled in the system in the first place … so that we’re not only just representing them in their criminal case, but really thinking about how we help support them so that they don’t return to the system in the future.”
District Attorney Jeff Rosen, Silver’s chief counterpart, congratulated him on his selection.
“In an adversarial system like we have in court, our two offices fight hard against each other, as the system is designed to have us do. I know though, that outside of the court, we can and should work together to make the criminal justice system the best and the fairest it can be for all,” Rosen said in a statement. “I look forward to collaborating with Damon where we can collaborate. I also look forward to having disagreements that never lose sight of the respect we have for each other and for the justice system.”
O’Neal said the office’s legacy is safe in her former No. 2’s hands.
“Damon will be, and honestly already is, an excellent chief public defender,” she said. “He has an unparalleled work ethic, strong ties to the community and is a brilliant, strategic thinker. He understands the needs of the clients and works tirelessly to ensure their rights are protected and their voices heard.”