Pioneer at DA’s office promoted to No. 2 post
Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli has tapped Otis Bruce Jr., the county’s first Black prosecutor and a prominent community figure, to be her second in command.
Bruce, a 62-year-old Novato resident, has been a deputy district attorney for 25 years and a county employee for about 30 years. He will be promoted to assistant district attorney effective Aug. 23 with an annual salary of $206,523.
“His exemplary career in this office along with his work ethic, leadership skills and commitment to our community and social justice programs make him the perfect choice for this important position,” Frugoli said.
Bruce’s appointment comes amid a national call to address social justice issues and law enforcement reform in response to police shootings of Blacks.
In addition to being the office’s liaison to the community and other criminal justice agencies, Bruce will be tasked with expanding the office’s social justice programs and will lead a team analyzing prison sentences and use of force by law enforcement.
“Prosecutor offices across the state and the country and the world, we are in an important position to help to build trust with our communities and embrace reforms and to make the criminal justice system more fair and just,” Bruce said on Friday.
In addition to continuing existing initiatives around expungement and immigration relief, Bruce said he is in the process of building a cultural and community engagement and outreach team.
In his time with the district attorney’s office, Bruce has prosecuted cases involving domestic violence, gangs, drug offenses, business fraud, embezzlement and other crimes. Bruce has also been recognized for his extensive community service work and leadership among a multitude of local and state organizations and nonprofits.
The oldest of six siblings, Bruce was raised by a single mother on a farm in Mississippi and attended a segregated school in the town of Soso until sixth grade.
In pursuit of a career in the criminal justice system, Bruce attended Merritt College in Oakland and earned a criminal justice administration degree from San Jose State University. He earned his law degree after taking night classes
at New College of California School of Law in San Francisco while simultaneously working a job to support his family, according to the district attorney’s office.
After discovering Marin had no Black attorneys on staff, Bruce set out to change that and became a volunteer law clerk with the County Counsel’s Office before being hired in 1990 as a contract legal assistant with the district attorney’s office. He was hired as the county’s first Black deputy district attorney five years later.
Bruce also became the Marin County Bar Association’s first Black president in 2011 and developed a scholarship for economically challenged law students who attended school or had lived in Marin County. It continues today.
Susan Feder, the bar association’s current president, described Bruce as a hardworking, affable and community-oriented leader.
“There’s nothing dialit-in about him,” Feder said. “He genuinely believes what he is working on and is very passionate about it.”
Charles Dresow, a San Rafael-based private defense attorney, said he interned for Bruce during his early career with the DA’s office. Bruce’s appointment as assistant district attorney will improve the credibility of the criminal justice system, Dresow said, because of his unique gift to communicate with different communities and “opening the halls of justice to people who don’t normally get included.”
“He’s the right person at the right time to really start rebuilding the public’s faith in how our court system works,” Dresow said. “And Otis is not just a district attorney; he’s always looked at himself as a representative to the community, who has dedicated his career to the protection of that community.”