Attorney General Lockyer Names Criminal Law Division Chief Robert R. Anderson as New Chief Deputy Attorney General for Legal Affairs

(SACRAMENTO) – Attorney General Bill Lockyer today announced he has named Chief Assistant Attorney General Robert R. Anderson, head of the Criminal Law Division, to succeed Richard M. Frank as Chief Deputy Attorney General for Legal Affairs.

“Bob has earned a well-deserved reputation as a consummate professional dedicated to excellence,” said Lockyer. “I have come to greatly rely on his counsel, as have all members of the executive team and the lawyers and staff who work for him. He’s a straight shooter with a lot of wisdom, and I look forward to leaning on him even more heavily in his new post.

Anderson’s appointment will take effect August 7, 2006. Frank is leaving the post to head up the newly-created California Center for Environmental Law and Policy at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. The Chief Deputy Attorney General for Legal Affairs directs the full range of the Department of Justice’s civil and criminal legal work in the courts and before regulatory agencies, its representation of state governmental agencies and officials, and its defense of state laws.

A 33-year veteran with the Department of Justice (DOJ), Anderson has headed the Criminal Law Division since June 2001. The Division has 400 attorneys, 37 legal analysts and a $100 million budget, and houses the DOJ’s Appeals, Writs and Trials Section (AWT), the Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, the Correctional Writs and Appeals Section, the Special Crimes Unit and the Spousal Abuser Prosecution Program. Anderson has guided the Division's death penalty appeals litigation during the recent courtroom battle over lethal injection procedures.

As head of the Division, Anderson also has served as the Attorney General’s chief liaison with the state's 58 elected district attorneys, state and federal law enforcement agencies, and state and federal courts. Lockyer credited Anderson with helping DOJ build and maintain a solid relationship and reputation with all those agencies.

Anderson joined DOJ in August 1973 – following his graduation from Loyola University School of Law at Los Angeles – as a Deputy Attorney General in the AWT section. From 1973 through February 1991, he handled death penalty and other criminal cases, as well as complex civil rights litigation, for the Los Angeles and Sacramento AWT offices.

During this 18-year stint as a Deputy Attorney General working in the Los Angeles and Sacramento AWT offices, Anderson litigated more 100 cases in federal courts and the California Courts of Appeal. He argued 14 times before the California Supreme Court, including six death penalty cases. Additionally during this tenure, Anderson handled and supervised discipline cases before the Commission on Judicial Performance. He also served as trial coordinator in the Los Angeles office for several years, and as team leader in the Los Angeles office from 1983 until 1987. When he wasn't litigating and supervising cases, Anderson analyzed proposed legislation related to criminal pretrial procedures.

Anderson was elevated in February 1991 to Senior Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Sacramento and Fresno AWT offices. He served in that post through June 2001, directing the work of about 80 lawyers, evaluating and assigning cases, making charging decisions and consulting with district attorneys on legal issues.