In January 2001, the City of Oakland’s first elected City Attorney, John A. Russo, appointed Mark T. Morodomi as Supervising Deputy City Attorney. In that role, Mr. Morodomi supervises the deputies of the General Government and Finance Unit. The Unit advises the City on law relating to public art, museums, parks and recreation, libraries, health and human services, bonds, tax, and telecommunications. He also is the office’s specialist on all ethics, campaign reform, redistricting, and open government matters.

Prior to joining the City Attorney, Mr. Morodomi was in Washington, D.C. serving as Policy Advisor to Under Secretary of the Treasury. The Under Secretary oversaw the Secret Service, U.S. Customs Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and the IRS-Criminal Investigations Division. Mr. Morodomi specialized in strategies to combat international drug money laundering and represented the United States at the Black Market Peso Exchange Multilateral Experts Meeting in Aruba, South America.

Prior to his work in Washington, Mr. Morodomi was Acting Chief of Enforcement and Senior Enforcement Counsel of the State of California FPPC (Fair Political Practices Commission). Serving ten years (1990-2000), he was responsible for some of the agency’s most sensitive corruption and ethics investigations. In 2000, he wrote the prevailing argument in the California Supreme Court case, People v. Snyder, eliminating a loophole used by lobbyists to avoid criminal prosecution. In 1997, he traveled to La Paz, Bolivia, to advise the Bolivian government on the implementation of that county’s newly enacted campaign finance law. In 1995, he successfully prosecuted the Evergreen America Corporation for campaign money laundering and won the largest civil election law fine at the time in the nation. In 1992, he was principal drafter of the revisions of the state’s ethics regulations on honoraria and gifts to public officials.

In 1995, because of his professional and community accomplishments, the American Bar Association’s Barrister Magazine honored Mr. Morodomi as one of the "21 Young Lawyers Leading Us Into the 21st Century.”

As a volunteer, Mr. Morodomi has also used his legal skills on behalf of local communities. Through his work with the Asian Law Caucus, he provided free legal help to victims of the Loma Prieta earthquake and defended the constitutional rights of interned Japanese-Americans. He has been president of the Asian Bar Association of Sacramento, president of the Japanese American Citizens League, Florin Chapter (a civil rights organization), and a governor on the national board of the national Asian Pacific American lawyers association.

A second-degree black belt, he has taught karate at the University of California, Davis.

Mr. Morodomi graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1985. He graduated from Stanford University in 1982 where he was team captain of the Stanford Karate Association.

Mr. Morodomi has published articles on California hate crime laws and the Bolivian electoral system. He has also appeared on PBS, commenting on community efforts to combat hate crimes.