A 14-year veteran of the federal public defender’s office for Northern California has been named as its new chief.
Steven Kalar, 46, was appointed Wednesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
The office, established in 1972, provides lawyers for low-income defendants in criminal cases in the Northern California federal court district, which includes the Bay Area and northern coastal California up to the Oregon border.
Kalar succeeds Barry Portman, who retired Dec. 31 after having headed the office since 1988.
He will supervise a staff of more than 60, including 18 lawyers, in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. He was appointed for a renewable four-year term.
Kalar joined the office in 1988 and was promoted to the post of senior litigator in 2003. He serves as a training attorney for new assistant federal public defenders.
He grew up in Santa Rosa and graduated from Harvard College in 1988 and Hastings College of the Law in 1996.
Julia Cheever, Bay City News
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