Alameda City Attorney’s Office Earns National Award

ALAMEDA, CA — The Alameda City Attorney’s Office recently received a national award for extraordinary service, including work to protect dozens of local families in danger of losing their homes.

The city attorney's office earned the 2025 American Bar Association’s Hodson Award, which is given out each year to one government or public-sector law office “for outstanding performance and extraordinary service,” with the Office being selected as this year’s award recipient, the City of Alameda shared.

“I am thrilled and deeply honored that the Alameda City Attorney’s Office is being recognized as a nationwide leader in developing innovative legal solutions to some of our community’s greatest challenges," said Alameda City Attorney Yibin Shen. "Our attorneys and professional staff demonstrate their commitment to effective public service each and every day, and we are proud to be a model of excellence in public lawyering.”

In addition to Shen, the Office’s leadership team consists of Bill Chapin, Director of the City’s Rent Program; Julia Gonzales, Chief Assistant City Prosecutor; and Dr. Leigh Grossman, Police Auditor. Its key functions include civil litigation, municipal advisory, risk management, implementing the City’s Rent Ordinance and police auditing. It also houses The Prosecution and Public Rights Unit, which handles misdemeanor criminal matters.

The Office was bestowed the Hodson Award due to a “commitment to excellence and [an] innovative approach to advancing the City Council’s strategic objectives of protecting public safety by justly enforcing state and local laws and preserving affordable housing by preventing unnecessary displacement,” according to a statement by the City of Alameda.

In their praise of the Alameda City Attorney’s Office, the ABA specifically referenced the Office’s “urgency and resolve in 2021 to protect 50 families living on floating homes in the Barnhill Marina from imminent housing displacement.”

More information about that case and its outcome can be found here.