Meet the Public Defender

Damon Silver has been a public defender for the entirety of his 30-year legal career and has been with the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office for the past 28 years.  Damon began his carrier representing children in juvenile court, a passion he maintains to this day as a son of a public elementary school teacher and social worker. During his years in public defense, Damon has tried a wide variety of serious cases, including homicides and has experience in capital litigation.  Damon’s leadership journey at the Office began as a Preliminary Examination and Felony Sentencing trainer, followed by being appointed supervisor of the Felony Trial Team in 2010. In 2016 Damon assumed the role of Chief Trial Deputy and next joined the Office’s executive management team as Assistant Public Defender in 2017. In this role Damon oversaw many teams including the Felony Trial Team, the Special Trial Unit (Homicide Team), the Juvenile Team and the North County Office.  As a result of his strong commitment to community engagement, Damon helped establish the Office’s community outreach attorney positions, including playing a lead role in designing their mission and goals.  It is common to see Damon at a Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet, La Raza Roundtable, Silicon Valley De-Bug, or La Raza Lawyers meeting.  Damon launched the Office’s first Postconviction Team, focused on unwinding the unjust impacts of decades of mass incarceration efforts.  He collaborates with other criminal justice stakeholders on a variety of projects including digital discovery, the Faith-Based Reentry Collaborative, and MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge.  Damon takes particular pride in spearheading a variety of the Office’s race equity initiatives, including launching its first Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging Committee and the GARE Equity Committee.

Damon has lived his entire life in the Bay Area.  He grew up in the North Bay attending public school and eventually graduating from UC Davis as both an undergraduate and law school student (Martin Luther King Hall School of Law).  Damon has been a resident of Santa Clara County since 1998, where he met his wife Azar.  They are raising two children and remain active in the community.  You might see Damon at local blues and jazz music events, when he’s not coaching mock trial now that he’s ‘retired’ from coaching youth sports.

“I believe in the power of restoration and redemption – that all people are more than their worst decision. In partnership with community our office, and our county government, can deliver a safe, compassionate, and equitable environment enabling all our residents to thrive. We should never be hostage to the smallness of our own imagination, real change requires designing solutions for the ‘impossible’.”