After a national recruitment, the Santa Rosa City Council selects Teresa Stricker as the new City Attorney for Santa Rosa. The formal contract will be approved by the City Council on August 22, 2023, and Stricker is expected to start on November 6, 2023. Stricker replaces Sue Gallagher the former City Attorney, who retired on July 29, 2023.
“We are so excited for her to join the team,” said Mayor Natalie Rogers. “Her wealth of experience practicing law in local government, management, and the fact that she has previously worked for the City of Santa Rosa, will help her hit the ground running.”
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Minnesota Law School with two decades of municipal law experience, Teresa Stricker has successfully led the in-house legal departments of three Bay Area cities, including serving as Santa Rosa’s Interim City Attorney from July 2016 to May 2017.
Currently, Ms. Stricker serves as City Attorney for the City of San Pablo. Before joining San Pablo, she was City Attorney for the City of Richmond, leading its 10-person in-house legal team. Prior to joining Richmond, she was a partner at Renne Public Law Group, heading its local government practice and serving as its first managing partner. Stricker was also Counsel at Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai | Public Law Group prior to the formation of Renne Public Law Group. In private practice, she focused on providing legal advice and representation to local agencies on a wide range of municipal issues, from day-to-day operations to novel and complex issues. In addition, she also served as Town Attorney for the Town of Corte Madera and Deputy City Attorney for the City of Brisbane.
Before leaving for private practice, Ms. Stricker served as Deputy City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco. There she defended ordinances and programs and served as general counsel for various city departments. Prior to joining the City and County of San Francisco, Ms. Stricker was a litigation associate at former San Francisco-based law firm, Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.
Ms. Stricker is an active member of the City Attorneys’ Department of Cal Cities, serving on and formerly chairing its Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) Committee. She has drafted amicus briefs on important municipal law issues on behalf of public agencies statewide and provided training to local public officials on a variety of topics.