Kandis Westmore

Kandis Westmore has been a Deputy City Attorney in the Oakland City Attorney’s Office since 1999. As a Deputy City Attorney, Kandis has served in both the Advisory and Litigation Divisions. From 1999 to 2003, she was an advisory attorney, providing legal counsel to the Oakland Police Department’s Animal Shelter and Weapons Unit, the City Council, the Mayor and the Community and Economic Development Agency’s Building Services and Code Enforcement units. In those capacities, Kandis reviewed department contracts and prosecuted numerous nuisance abatement actions under state and local nuisance abatement statutes involving substandard buildings and drug nuisances, some of which proceeded to trial. She also wrote local legislation and tracked gun control legislation at the state level and responded to challenges to the City’s gun control ordinances. From 2003 to the present, Kandis has worked in the Litigation Division representing city agencies and employees in state and federal court through, trial and mediation on subjects including civil rights, personal injury and employment discrimination. She currently serves as one of two attorneys who handle all of the law and motion and appeals for the City of Oakland. Kandis has served on the ACBA Lawyer Referral Service Governing Committee since 2002 and is the current Chair of the Committee. She is currently a member of the ACBA 2008 Board of Directors serving on the Board’s Membership Committee. She is also a member of the Charles Houston Bar Association (2000 Board Member), the California Association of Black Lawyers, the National Bar Association, and American Bar Association. Since 2000, she has worked as a Grader of the California Bar Examination for the State Bar of California. Kandis received her B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989 and her J.D from the University of San Francisco, School of Law in 1997. She has been an active member of the California State Bar since March 1998.