Frank Barone

San Diego County Primary Public Defender's Office

Frank Barone is a Supervising Attorney with the San Diego County Primary Public Defender’s Office. He has practiced criminal defense since 1997 and became a deputy public defender in 1998. He has represented adults and children, as both a trial and appellate attorney. He supervised in his office’s Juvenile Justice Division for nearly ten years. While in that assignment, he supervised a team of attorneys, paralegals, investigators, licensed mental health clinicians, youth & family services coordinators, client advocates, and legal support staff who practice a holistic model of juvenile defense. He led the team representing dual status youth and oversaw the county-wide SB 395 program. He served on the Restorative Community Conferencing Steering Committee, Alternatives to Detention Task Force, TERM Advisory Board, Crossover Youth Practice Model Guiding Coalition Workgroup, County-wide CSEC Steering Committee, and San Pasqual Academy Advisory Board. He was also a voting member of the San Diego County Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council. In 2017, he wrote the original draft of AB 529 which expanded record sealing under WIC 786 to include dismissed petitions. He is certified by the Gault Center as a Youth Defender Advocacy Program (YDAP) Trainer. He served on the board of directors of the San Diego County Bar Association and the Public Defenders Association of San Diego County. He was also a co-founder, board member, and president of the San Diego County Public Defender’s Community Outreach Committee. Mr. Barone received a B.A. from the University of California, Irvine and J.D. from California Western School of Law. He shares a son with his wife, who is also an attorney.