The Informant

Susie Ming Hwa/San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson

On Friday, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson accused an Oakland law firm representing several people named in the proposed Norteño gang injunction of conflicts of interest. Johnson urged the well-known Siegel & Yee firm to recuse itself from the case because of ties to the city leadership. City Council President Jane Brunner is a partner in the firm, and another partner, Dan Siegel, has previously represented Mayor-elect Jean Quan.

Johnson’s column follows the line set out by Oakland City Attorney John Russo in a letter sent earlier this month to Siegel & Yee attorney Michael Siegel.

It doesn’t appear Siegel & Yee is going to back down. Last Monday, I sat down with Siegel & Yee attorneys Jose Luis Fuentes and Michael Siegel to discus the Norteño case. Their take is that Russo is trying to head off opposition to Oakland’s second gang injunction before the matter goes to court.

“It’d be a lot easier if we were out of the picture,” Michael Siegel told me. “Siegel & Yee is a very respected law firm in the community, and when we signed on, it gives legitimacy to the injunction resistance. The North Oakland resistance to the injunction was characterized as fringe – now we’re seen as legitimate. The media are talking about the Fruitvale “community” resisting the injunction.”

The City Attorney’s letter argues that Siegel & Yee have a conflict of interest over the Norteno case because firm partner Jane Brunner had been “privy to a briefing on a parallel gang injunction” earlier in the year – the North Side Oakland injunction.

Attorney Jose Luis Fuentes dismissed Russo’s argument. “There are ways to block [Brunner] from accessing information about the Fruitvale case,” Fuentes said. “Anyway, we haven’t received any confidential information from Jane on this case. This is a smokescreen by Russo – he wants to be able to steamroll every minority community targeted by these injunctions.”

Siegel & Yee also raises another interesting point over potential conflicts of interest – neither Mayor Ron Dellums nor Oakland’s City Council have approved Russo’s gang injunction strategy. Any attempt by Russo to have Siegel & Yee formally removed from the legal proceedings would involve Russo asking the Council to sign off on the injunction.

The Council’s Public Safety Committee will discuss the Norteño injunction at a hearing on Tuesday, December 14th at 5:30 PM. It should be an interesting evening – Mayor-elect Jean Quan is on the committee and may elaborate further on her take on the injunction controversy.

The conflict between Russo and Siegel & Yee is detailed in a series of letters between the firm and City Attorney over the status of Abel Manzo, one of the 41 defendants in the Norteño case. They are posted below.