City Attorney
Vanessa W. Vallarta, City Attorney
The City Council appointed Vanessa W. Vallarta as City Attorney effective January 2005. The City Attorney’s office works to provide quality and effective legal representation and guidance to the Mayor and City Council, City Manager, City departments, and Boards and Commissions.
Vanessa graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University (B.A., 1983) and Stanford Law School (J.D., 1987). She clerked for the Hon. Thomas Tang, Federal Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal following graduation.
Vanessa was born in Mexico City, Mexico and has lived and practiced law in Salinas since 1990. She represents the Monterey Bay Region on the Legal Advocacy Committee of the League of California Cities, City Attorneys Department.