SAN FRANCISCO—On Monday, January 7, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera revealed that George K.H. Schell was hired to lead the office’s Contracts and Special Projects Team. Schell’s title is Chief Attorney, Business Transactions and Compliance. He begins his new role on Monday, January 14.
“It is with great pleasure that I welcome George back to the City Attorney’s Office,” said Herrera. “Adding a legal professional of George’s caliber, particularly given his distinguished background and diverse business experience, is a boon for the people of San Francisco. This is a significant addition that will only enhance the office’s well-earned reputation for depth, innovation and leadership.”
“I am very grateful to City Attorney Herrera for providing me with this opportunity,” said Schell. “I am looking forward to leveraging my business, legal and leadership skills in ways that will benefit the residents and taxpayers of San Francisco.”
According to the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office website, Schell and his team will offer legal services to multiple city departments, including the City Purchaser and the Office of Contract Administration. Services will include providing legal advice on compliance with City contracting requirements including handling contracts stemming from departmental and legislative requests for various grants, goods and services. The team will work closely with other subject matter expert teams in the Attorney’s Office — will be responsible for giving legal advice and drafting expertise for large, complicated contractual matters, mainly those involving emerging issues related to intellectual property, privacy and the new economy.
“George will help us continue building the requisite business knowledge and contractual flexibility to help San Francisco meet the many legal challenges generated by emerging business innovations and operations,” Herrera said.
Schell will primary be responsibility for legal management of special projects involving select city business transactions, including major city entertainment and sporting events, as they arise. Schell will help litigators in the office with select contract enforcement and consumer protection actions. He will play a role in helping to grow the office’s strong focus on effective leadership, attorney recruitment, mentoring, diversity and inclusion, and overall staff excellence.
“I am confident that George will be an extremely valuable resource to me, my team and the City as we continually strive to better serve the people of San Francisco,” Herrera said.
In June 2016, Schell ended a 20-year career at The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, recently as Chief Marketing Counsel for Coca-Cola North America, where he oversaw the legal support for the North America marketing and advertising teams. Before joining Coca-Cola, Schell worked as General Counsel for the Oakland Athletics Baseball Company. Prior to that he served as Chief of General Litigation for the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, a litigation associate at Steinhart & Falconer in San Francisco, and as a Staff Attorney and Team Leader for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Office of Staff Attorneys.
Schell founded OfficeSeer LLC, a consulting company that provides a wide array of speaking and management training services. He became Chief Operating Officer for Beyond Law, a skills and success mindset training program for young lawyers. He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Smithsonian Institute’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Schell earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his law degree from UCLA School of Law.
“I am honored and very pleased to return to work with City Attorney Herrera, his highly-skilled team of legal professionals and the citizens, employees and departments in the City and County of San Francisco,” Schell said. “I hope to play a key role in the office’s focused effort to help San Francisco maintain and grow its position as a world leader in effective municipal interaction with the business community.”
