Hilary Kerrigan ( She/Her )

Hilary Kerrigan joined the Office of the County Counsel in 2011 and spent 12 years on the Child and Family Protection Team, including four years as the lead of that team.  Under her leadership, the Child and Family Protection Team was awarded the International Municipal Lawyer’s Association’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award for its support of the County’s child welfare reform and equity efforts.  Hilary has appeared at thousands of dependency hearings, including hundreds of trials, and has briefed dozens of cases in the appellate courts, two resulting in published opinions that established new child welfare law.  She also supported the Department of Family and Children’s Services through many system reforms and is an active participant in the statewide child welfare legal community.  In 2023, Hilary championed a county-sponsored child welfare bill, SB 463, which deleted an outdated legal presumption focusing on parental compliance with government actors, to refocus the court’s inquiry on the best interest of children.

Office practice areas

• Health and Hospitals Team 
• Public Safety and Justice Team 

​​Education

• University of California, Hastings College of the Law, J.D., cum laude, 2010  
• University of Durham, M.A., 2005  
• University of California, Los Angeles, B.A., 2003  

Professional associations

• Santa Clara County Bar Association Graduate of the Barristers Leadership Program (2013) 
• Santa Clara County Bar Association Judiciary Committee (2018-2021) 
• Juvenile Dependency Beyond the Bench Planning Committee (2013- 2022) 

Prior experience

• Adjunct Professor in Appellate Advocacy at Santa Clara School of Law (2016) 
• Deputy Public Defender at the Kern County Office of the Public Defender (2011)