Yolo prosecutor returns to roots, takes a job with Indian law firm
By Lauren
Keene/Enterprise staff writer
Published Sep 01, 2006
Nearly three months after her unsuccessful bid for Yolo County
district attorney, prosecutor Patricia Lenzi has left the DA's
Office in Woodland to join a private law firm.
Lenzi, a Davis resident, will go to work for Monteau & Peebles,
an established Native American law firm with offices in
Sacramento, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Washington, D.C.
The firm specializes in federal American Indian law, complex
governmental negotiations, business transactions in Indian
country, administrative law and federal lobbying, according to
its Web site.
About half the firm's attorneys have tribal affiliation, said
Lenzi, herself a member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.
It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up - going from
representing the state of California to representing my own
people, helping people that are underrepresented at times,
Lenzi, 49, said in an interview Thursday.
Lenzi's last day with the district attorney's office was
Wednesday, when she won a guilty verdict in a lengthy homicide
case. She had been with the office since 2001 and specialized in
child-molest cases. Prior to that, Lenzi worked as a prosecutor
for the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.
In June, Lenzi squared off against fellow prosecutor Jeff Reisig
to replace the retiring David Henderson, who has led the
district attorney's office for 22 years. Reisig won the race,
earning 54 percent of the vote to Lenzi's 46 percent, though
Lenzi earned a majority vote in the city of Davis.
Lenzi said the partners of Monteau & Peebles learned about her
during her campaign, and after the election she was encouraged
to apply for an open position with the firm. She said she will
continue to maintain her local connections, including heading
the mock trial team at Davis High School.
She also said she has no regrets about leaving the Yolo DA's
Office.
I know I've done good work and helped a lot of people, zealously
representing victims of crime, she said.