OAKLAND, CA – Governor Jerry Brown has appointed Dianne Millner, Special Counsel in the Oakland City Attorney’s Office, to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD), an agency tasked with ensuring that people with developmental disabilities receive the support and services they need.
Millner has served as a Supervising Deputy City Attorney and Special Counsel in the Oakland City Attorney’s Office since 2000. She is the parent of a daughter with disabilities and has worked for years as an advocate for disability rights.
The SCDD’s mission is to advocate and implement “policies and practices that achieve self-determination, independence, productivity and inclusion in all aspects of community life for Californians with developmental disabilities and their families.”
“I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to work on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Californians with developmental disabilities,” Millner said. “I will continue to fight for the most comprehensive level of services and support for those individuals and their families.”
Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker congratulated Millner on her appointment.
“Dianne’s work on disability rights issues is a shining example of the community service and advocacy that we encourage our attorneys to perform,” Parker said. “I am proud to have Dianne and many other outstanding attorneys in our office who are committed to enriching the lives and protecting the rights of all members of our community.”
Millner is a former president and current fundraising committee member for Disability Rights California, and a former president of the Parents & Friends Association of the California School for the Blind. She currently serves as a mentor for the East Bay College Fund. As a member of the SCDD, Millner will represent Area Board V, which encompasses the counties of Alameda, San Francisco, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Marin.
Before joining the City Attorney’s Office, Millner was a partner in the San Francisco law firm of Steefel, Levitt & Weiss and a co-founder of the law firm Alexander, Millner & McGee, which became the largest minority-owned firm in the country during its tenure. She also served as a Deputy City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco and is a graduate of Stanford Law School.
