Nancy O’Malley

Ms. Nancy E. O’Malley is the Alameda County District Attorney and is the first woman to serve as Alameda County’s District Attorney.  D.A. O’Malley is a national and statewide leader known for her innovation and vision.  DA O’Malley’s career has made combating violence against women a high priority.  She has written more than 40 bills that have become law, including the Sexual Assault Victims Bill of Rights, mandatory testing of all sexual assault forensic kits, laws that define human trafficking and increased victim protections, expansion of funding for domestic violence survivors and the many more. In 2009, DA O’Malley created H.E.A.T. Watch (Human Exploitation And Trafficking), a 5-prong blueprint for communities to build initiatives to combat human trafficking.  H.E.A.T. Watch is utilized across America and adopted by the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services.  DA O’Malley created the first Prosecution Unit, H.E.A.T. Unit, dedicated to vertically prosecuting human trafficking cases.  To date, her Office has prosecuted more than 804 human trafficking cases involving minors or young adults.  Ms. O’Malley created SafetyNet, the Young Womens Empowerment Program and was instrumental in the creation of Claire’s House, the first of it’s kind therapeutic housing for trafficked female youth.

In 2017, DA O’Malley created the H.E.A.T. Institute, a California-based research Institute to exam root causes, strategies for effective and impactful responses as well as other significant efforts to end human trafficking in California.  

In 2005, DA O’Malley founded the Alameda County Family Justice Center, which is a model for the country in establishing collaborative, comprehensive support and resources for victims of domestic violence and their children, victims of sexual assault, child abuse, human trafficking and elder abuse. DA O’Malley created the Women’s Empower Program for survivors of Domestic Violence, which provides support, healing, healthy relationship, sisterhood and economic independence. The survivors are linked into jobs and living-wage careers. 

In addition to prosecuting cases involving violence against women, girls and children, Ms. O’Malley’s professional and personal focus has been on improving systems’ responses and enhancing the rights for victim-survivors of interpersonal violence and other crimes.  She created the Sexual Assault Vertical Prosecution Unit, the Domestic Violence Vertical Prosecution Unit, the Human Trafficking Vertical Prosecution Unit and expanded the Victim-Witness Assistance Division. Ms. O’Malley serves on several Boards, including Aequitas. She also is the Chair of the California Sex Offender Management Board, the California Sexual Assault Advisory Committee and serves on several other statewide board.  

DA O’Malley has received numerous awards for her leadership and her work. She received the prestigious American Bar Association Margaret Brent Award, presented for achieving professional excellence and for paving the way for other women in the legal profession.  She received the Lois Haight Award of Excellence and Innovation Award from the United States Congress, Victim’s Rights Caucus.  Ms. O’Malley was awarded the James Irvine Leadership Award in 2017 for her groundbreaking work combating human trafficking. Her awards are diverse and too numerous to list.  Her contributions to the community, to the State of California and to the Country are numerous and significant.

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