L. Alexandra Fong is a Deputy County Counsel for the County of Riverside, where she practices exclusively in the area of public entity defense. She has regularly appeared before the Board of Supervisors, on behalf of the Code Enforcement Department. She received her undergraduate degree in Liberal Studies, with an emphasis in English and creative writing, from the University of California at Riverside. She attended California Southern Law School at night, while working full-time.

After graduating from law school and passing the bar exam in 2000, Ms. Fong began practicing law at the San Bernardino offices of Lewis D’Amato Brisbois & Bisgaard LLP (now Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP [LBBS]), one of the largest law firms in California. While at LBBS, she defended a wide variety of matters involving public entity liability, products liability, personal injury, and construction defect. She practiced primarily in public entity defense before moving to Riverside County Counsel.

At County Counsel, Ms. Fong handles a variety of matters, exclusively in the field of litigation. Previously, she appeared at the Board of Supervisors meetings to handle public hearings on abatements and statements of administrative costs for the County Code Enforcement Department. When she first arrived, she handled code enforcement matters for the then-newly elected Jeff Stone of District 3 (which included Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Hemet, San Jacinto, and all the unincorporated property to the east just short of Palm Springs and Palm Desert) and various litigation matters.

As to litigation, Ms. Fong represents the County in personal injury lawsuits (automobile accidents, dangerous conditions of public property, and damage to property), civil rights violations, and petitions for writ of mandate, alleging violations of the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (Government Code § 3500 et seq.). More recently, she has been involved in litigation involving the Subdivision Map Act (Government Code § 66410 et seq.), the seizure of horses (animal cruelty) and dogs (vicious and dangerous animals), professional negligence (legal malpractice), inverse condemnation, quiet title, and property tax administration fees (alleging the County is charging fees in excess of what is allowed). When needed, she also assists in handling juvenile dependency appeals and has appeared before the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two.

As to administrative matters, Ms. Fong works with the regularly assigned Deputy County Counsel and occasionally appears in front of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesdays when the Board is in session at the 9:30 a.m. public hearing, handling abatements and statements of administrative costs before the Board. As to abatements, Code Enforcement requests that the Board declare the violations to be a nuisance and order the property owner to abate the nuisances, which begins the process which could ultimately end up in litigation. As to statements of administrative costs, Code Enforcement requests the Board declare the amounts incurred reasonable and allow it to seek various methods of collection.

Ms. Fong has been a member of the Riverside County Bar Association (RCBA) since 2005 and is actively involved with the organization. She is currently the Chairwoman of the Mentoring Program Committee. She is a co-chair and member of the Continuing Legal Education Committee. She is a member and contributing writer of the Bar Publications Committee. In June 2012, she was elected to a position as Director-at-Large on the RCBA’s Board of Directors. Her election to the board was announced at the June 15, 2012 general membership meeting. She is the first deputy county counsel from the Riverside County Counsel’s office to be elected to the RCBA. Her two-year term began on September 1, 2012 and concludes on August 31, 2014.

Ms. Fong has been a member of the Leo A. Deegan Chapter of the American Inns of Court (“Inn”) since 2010. On May 30, 2012, at the final meeting of the Inn’s 2011 – 2012 program year, she was presented with the Louise Biddle Award. The award is given to an outstanding attorney for professionalism and dedication to the legal community and who exemplifies the goals of the Inn. The award is in memory of Louise Biddle, former executive director of the Inn and the RCBA. She is the first recipient from the Riverside County Counsel’s office of this prestigious honor. In May 2012, she was elected as a member of the Executive Board of the Inn. She is the first deputy county counsel from the Riverside County Counsel’s office to be elected to Executive Board of the Inn. Her term began in September 2012.

Ms. Fong is also active within the local community. From 2008 to 2011, she participated in the Mock Trial program as a scoring attorney. She is a member of the Junior League of Riverside, Inc., an organization of women committed to promotion voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.