Ordin slated to become first woman county counsel

Andrea Sheridan Ordin, one of Los Angeles’ biggest legal names, who has served as a pioneering federal, state and local prosecutor, is poised to become L.A. county’s top lawyer.

Next Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors is expected to hire Ordin as its next County Counsel—the first woman to hold the position. She would oversee a staff of more than 250 lawyers who provide a diverse range of legal services to the supervisors and county departments.

Ordin, at a salary of $295,000 a year, would replace acting County Counsel Robert Kalunian, who took the position on temporary basis in April, after the retirement of the long-serving Raymond Fortner.

For Ordin, currently vice chairman of the Los Angeles Police Commission, the L.A. County position would represent the latest in series of high-profile, and sometimes groundbreaking, government jobs.

Back in the mid-1970s, then-District Attorney John Van de Kamp named Ordin as the first female assistant district attorney, the office’s third highest job.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter named Ordin as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, based in Los Angeles, where she also was the first woman to hold that post. She served for four years, supervising all of the office’s criminal and civil litigation.

In 1983, Van de Kamp, who was then California’s attorney general, tapped Ordin again, this time as chief assistant attorney general, where she oversaw litigation regarding civil rights, antitrust, consumer and environmental litigation. She served in that office until 1990.

“She’ll call them straight,” Van de Kamp said Thursday. “She’ll give you her best judgment as to what the law is regardless of partisan politics.”

Ordin also has been deeply involved in oversight of the Los Angeles Police Department. In the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, she was named to the Christopher Commission, which investigated the factors that led to the beating of Rodney King and subsequent uprising.

Christopher, reached for comment on Thursday, said in a statement: “Andrea Ordin has demonstrated a deep commitment to public service throughout her entire career, and with her deep knowledge of Los Angeles and fine legal skills, she will be a great asset to the County.”

In the book “Official Negligence,” author Lou Cannon credited Ordin with the decision to include blatantly bigoted and sexist police e-mail messages in the Christopher Commission’s report to help better capture the department’s internal culture and keep “the report from being an overly dry statistical analysis.”

In 2005, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed Ordin to the Police Commission, the five member civilian board that oversees LAPD policy and practices.

Currently, Ordin is a litigation partner at the firm of Morgan Lewis, where she practices in state and federal courts. Her legal practice there is focused on environmental and business litigation as well as appellate work before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.