Hadi Razzaq leads our Training + Operations division, which ensures that our Office functions as efficiently and effectively as possible, and in a manner that is connected across our various units and functions. Hadi started his legal career as a civil litigator, and then served as a deputy public defender in Contra Costa and Marin Counties before joining our Office in 2006, where he has worked on the front lines in the misdemeanor, felony, and specialty court units. He has tried more than 45 jury trials, including successful efforts in some of the most challenging “life” cases in the history of our Office. In 2018, the late Public Defender Jeff Adachi promoted Hadi to be the Manager of our Investigation Unit. More recently, Hadi also supervised our Paralegal, Reentry, and Pre-Trial Release Units, and advanced our attorneys, investigators, paralegals, and social workers working collaboratively in advocacy teams to represent our clients at the highest level. Hadi was integral in conceiving of and launching the Adachi Project, the Public Defender’s documentary film and storytelling initiative aimed at elevating the voices of our Office’s clients, families, and communities while honoring Jeff Adachi’s trailblazing legacy as both a filmmaker and the Public Defender.
Hadi was born in Lahore, Pakistan and grew up in an immigrant family in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned his B.A. at Emory University, and obtained his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Hadi has served as the Co-Chair of the Civil Rights Committee of the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California and as a board member of the Coalition on Homelessness, and recently represented our Office on the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Criminal Justice Task Force.