Jonathan Laba

Contra Costa County Office of the Public Defender

Jonathan has been with the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s Office since 1996 and has handled all types of cases, including capital cases. During the past 12 years, he has supervised a variety of different units in the Public Defender’s Office, including felony and misdemeanor trial teams, mental health, post-conviction, and writs and appeals. Since 2020, Jonathan has supervised the office’s youth defense team.

Jonathan co-chairs CPDA’s Juvenile Committee, serves as a board member and as co-chair of the Legislative Committee for the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center, and is appointed to serve on the Judicial Council’s Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee. He has co-led multiple youth justice legislative reform efforts on behalf of PJDC since 2021, including reforms of California’s transfer, electronic monitoring, dismissal, informal probation, and sealing statutes. Since 2006, Jonathan has co-authored the chapter on juvenile delinquency in California Criminal Law: Procedure and Practice.

Jonathan is an adjunct faculty member at Berkeley Law, his alma mater, where he teaches youth justice and criminal legal ethics courses. In 2022, Jonathan was awarded PJDC’s inaugural Sue Burrell Champion of Youth Justice Award.