As City Attorney’s Chief of Public Integrity, Pfeifer will hold a ‘critically important role to defend the integrity of our public institutions, and fight waste, fraud and abuse’
SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 24, 2014) — City Attorney Dennis Herrera today announced that veteran prosecutor David Pfeifer will join the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office as Chief of the Public Integrity Unit, where he will oversee all of the office’s civil litigation and investigations involving government ethics, contracting fraud, employee misconduct, false claims and similar cases.
Pfeifer served in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office for more than 23 years, where he rose to serve as chief assistant, first under former District Attorney Kamala D. Harris and later under current District Attorney George Gascón. There he prosecuted a wide array of criminal cases, including those involving major white collar fraud, bribery, conflicts of interest, consumer fraud, environmental protection and more. Among the major cases with which Pfeifer previously worked closely with Herrera’s office was the criminal prosecution of former San Francisco Unified School District Facilities Director Tim Tronson, who was sentenced to four years in state prison for stealing more than $500,000 in school district funds. A related civil portion of that scandal, which involved technology vendors who defrauded the federal government’s “E-Rate” program to fund computer equipment in public schools, netted a $3.3 million whistleblower recovery for the SFUSD through the City Attorney’s Office.
“David Pfeifer has been an enormously effective public attorney throughout his career, and I’ve greatly admired his dedication and professionalism whenever we’ve had the opportunity to work together,” said Herrera. “I’m elated to have him join the City Attorney’s Office as our Public Integrity Chief. It’s a critically important role to defend the integrity of our public institutions, and fight waste, fraud and abuse. David is also a perfect fit to help two great public law offices — those led by District Attorney Gascón and myself — to work together more effectively than ever on cases that make a real difference for the San Francisco taxpayers we work hard to protect.”
Prior to becoming an assistant district attorney, Pfeifer was a civil litigator in private practice for three years. While attending law school at night, and for two years after obtaining his law degree, he held multiple management roles in a large insurance company, where he rose to lead the division responsible for handling litigation claims nationwide. He obtained his bachelor’s degree at Rutgers College; a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley; and his J.D. from the University of San Francisco. Pfeifer, who was admitted to the California bar in 1987, will join the City Attorney’s Office in a few weeks.
Related Documents:
PDF of Pfeifer to join the S.F. City Attorney’s Office news release (Jan. 24, 2014)