Ms. Hurtado is an attorney with 27 years of litigation and management experience in both the nonprofit and public sectors. During her long legal career, she has gained extensive and varied experience, making her uniquely qualified to assist non-profit and public agency clients. Ms. Hurtado’s impressive public sector experience includes serving as Assistant General Counsel for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) Office of the General Counsel in Sacramento prosecuting violations of the ALRA on behalf of farmworkers in administrative proceedings, and serving as lead counsel on one of the most complex cases against the largest peach grower in the country. Ms. Hurtado also has experience on both sides of the aisle of the criminal justice system. She served as a Deputy Public Defender in San Francisco for 10 years, litigating over a dozen jury trials, and two years on the management team at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office with responsibility over multiple divisions and strategic initiatives. Finally, she was appointed and served as Board of Appeals Commissioner for the City and County of San Francisco for two years to provide a final administrative review process for appeals related to a wide range of City determinations, including zoning, land use, and licensing. Ms. Hurtado has led two national non-profit organizations based in San Francisco. She served as the Executive Director of the Equal Rights Advocates, known nationally for its advocacy for gender justice in the workplace and schools across the nation, where she provided strategic oversight over all aspects of impact litigation, operations, and programming. Additionally, Ms. Hurtado served as the Deputy Director and Policy Advisor in charge of operations, personnel, human resources, strategic planning, and fiscal oversight for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. In addition to working at the firm, Arcelia currently serves as the Director of Policy and Training for the nonprofit Prosecutors Alliance of California creating and executing a training curriculum for progressive prosecutor offices across California; and pursuing legislative reform of the criminal legal system on behalf of its members; and mentoring law students.
RECOGNITIONS AND LEADERSHIP
Ms. Hurtado’s volunteer and community service is extensive. To name just a few examples, she served as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of Women Defenders and founded the Women Defenders Fellowship Fund to support underrepresented women in the criminal defense profession. She also served as a board member for La Raza Lawyers Association, where she also co-chaired the Public Interest Scholarship Committee, raising money and awarding scholarships to law students pursuing public interest law careers.
Ms. Hurtado’s public service work was recognized by the Levi Strauss Foundation in 2010 when she was named a “Pioneer in Justice.” The San Francisco Chronicle named her a “Bay Area Changemaker” in 2011.
View PDF Version of Bio