Dan Siegel, celebrated Bay Area civil rights lawyer who led People’s Park protests, dies at 79

OAKLAND Dan Siegel the attorney who led the Bloody Thursday protest at People s Park that helped ignite a tradition of activism in Berkeley drawing scrutiny from the FBI and launching Siegel s storied career in Oakland s courtrooms died on July He was A lifelong advocate for civil rights Siegel was a UC Berkeley law candidate when he yelled Let s take the park to a crowd of thousands of protesters in setting off a clash in which police killed one person and sent others to the hospital Siegel accused in the aftermath of inciting a riot later had his license to practice law denied by the State Bar of California He successfully sued taking the scenario to the state Supreme Court and winning The incident set an central precedent for determining the moral character of attorneys It was that very notion of morality Siegel s ability to remain principled both when challenging social institutions and serving in them that largest part resonated with family friends and colleagues following his death from cancer An Oakland resident since the s Siegel died at the local Kaiser hospital He is survived by his wife and fellow attorney Anne Butterfield Wells as well as a son Michael and stepson Christopher Scheer Known for his fierce work ethic Siegel took on cases that promised long hours and lengthy paperwork earning a reputation for being feared respected and willing to brave a trial in the East Bay s various courthouses A lot of the times it was the intricate cases other attorneys aren t willing to take announced his colleague Alan Yee of the Oakland-based firm Siegel Yee Brunner and Mehta Former Oakland mayoral candidate and attorney Dan Siegel center and three other protesters are detained by Oakland police officers after they refused to leave McDonalds during a protest reclaiming the Martin Luther King Jr legacy at th Street and Telegraph Avenue in Oakland Calif on Saturday Jan Siegel and the other three protesters were circulated after they were cited for trespassing Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group Siegel took on police departments helping to secure multi-million dollar settlements for Black Lives Matter protesters who were met with a forceful police response during the demonstrations that followed the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis He litigated breakthrough Title IX cases that prevented gender discrimination on university campuses He also sought to change governing body from the inside serving eight years on the Oakland school board and running unsuccessfully in to be the city s mayor Last month he stood in Oakland s City Hall plaza at the No Kings rally that drew thousands protesting the Trump administration where he urged the crowds not to fall complacent in the face of white supremacy I say our struggle is to create democracy not bring it back he announced on a microphone at the June rally reflecting on the country s dark legacy of Indigenous genocide and slavery He went on to call for political unity between both the good Democrats and bad Democrats Scheer recognized in the speech his stepfather s radical streak which he explained first led his mother to fall for Siegel in the s But there was also Siegel s pragmatic side the kind that once had helped him build bridges with teammates on Hamilton College s football company even the conservative frat stars Dan had this inexhaustible curiosity and intellectual resource Scheer noted in an interview It was classic him to take on cases that were new and challenging for him He never demanded to be stuck in particular narrow niche Oakland mayoral candidate Dan Siegel looks for prospective voters as he campaigns at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland Calif on Thursday Oct Kristopher Skinner Bay Area News Group Daniel Mark Siegel was born on July in The Bronx New York to working-class parents The family later moved to a diverse neighborhood in Long Island which along with a secular Jewish upbringing first exposed Siegel to progressive values He majored in religion and philosophy at Hamilton before heading west to Berkeley for law school There he became the president of a learner body enmeshed in the chaotic activism of the late s when then-Gov Ronald Reagan s administration was increasingly cracking down on campus anti-war demonstrations Bloody Thursday as it came to be known was set in motion when the mayor of Berkeley at the time ordered leadership to fence off People s Park and remove playground equipment and artwork installed by members of the citizens Siegel s call to take the park is now written into history books a reminder of the school s history of trainee activism amid more latest clashes over the park s future and of deadly police responses that Siegel fought to improvement in the ensuing decades Even as he became embedded in the courtroom Siegel never forgot he was fighting for the communities that had shaped him colleagues and family members recalled The people my parents represented as lawyers were also our comrades our brothers and sisters in arms explained Siegel s son Michael who last November was elected to the city council in Austin Texas We were working with them on the frontlines Michael helped run his father s productive campaign for the Oakland school board As the school district entered state receivership due to financial problems Siegel steadfastly fought against cuts to faculty jobs Oakland Police Sgt Mike Gantt left along with his attorney Dan Siegel right speaks during a news conference in Oakland Calif on Tuesday Nov Sgt Gantt a homicide detective has filed a claim against the city alleging retaliation from the department related to his assessment into the death of officer Brendan O'Brien's wife Irma Huerta Lopez Anda Chu Bay Area News Group In Siegel publicly split from the Oakland mayor he d been advising Jean Quan over local law enforcement s response to Occupy protesters In an online post he urged the populace to backing the demonstrators and not the or its cabinet facilitators Three years later Siegel ran to be mayor himself garnering of first-place votes in a crowded race won by Libby Schaaf The lawyer s focus remained in the courtroom where in he settled with the city on behalf of the family of Alan Blueford who was killed by Oakland police a couple years earlier Dan s legacy of justice lives on in every life he touched and every preeminence he won for our group Mayor Barbara Lee who revealed she knew Siegel for a large number of years explained in a declaration over the weekend Outside work Siegel was an avid reader and a thrill-seeker heading out to adventures in Alaska with his wife who saw the couple hiking with grizzly bears Scheer recalled But there were invariably cases left to fight including one for demonstrators who were arrested in front of Rep Nancy Pelosi s house for protesting Israel s assault in Gaza The next hearing had been scheduled for Friday I think he definitely would like to have seen it through Walter Riley the civil-rights attorney partnering with Siegel in that occurrence stated Monday Riley whose wife Jennifer befriended Siegel at UC Berkeley in the s stated his colleague was committed to finishing whatever he started Dan he declared was purely a very great ally in our struggles for justice Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland Call or text him at - - or email him at smukherjee bayareanewsgroup com