Barbara J. Parker is stepping down on January 6, 2025, at the end of her third, four-year term as Oakland City Attorney. She served as acting City Attorney in May and June of 2011, and the Council appointed her to complete the term of Oakland’s first elected City Attorney in July of 2011. Oaklanders subsequently elected Ms. Parker to a full, four-year term in November 2012 and elected her to second and third, four-year terms in November 2016 and 2020. Ms. Parker is the first African American woman elected to citywide office in Oakland. She is heartened to see Oakland voters elect a second African American woman to citywide office in November 2024.

During nearly 14 years as Oakland’s City Attorney, Ms. Parker made great strides in advancing civil rights and legal protections for Oakland residents. The Office’s Affirmative Litigation, Enforcement and Innovation Division, which Ms. Parker launched in 2016, has engaged in litigation against chemical polluters, Big Oil, opioid manufacturers and distributors, predatory and racially discriminatory banks, lead paint manufacturers, and local landlords who violated tenant protection laws. She crafted and co-sponsored laws and policies to advance and protect the rights of Oakland residents. In the last six years the Office’s affirmative work brought $56.2 million dollars to the City. These legal victories provided funds for the City to clean up PCBs (“forever chemicals”) from Oakland’s waterways, to support opioid abatement efforts, and to remove lead paint from housing, among many other actions. Throughout her tenure, Ms. Parker stood up for the rights of tenants, as well as the rights of residents who are Black, Indigenous and other people of color. See the August 2023 press release for more information regarding Ms. Parker’s family, professional background and career, awards and honors, and successes in office.