Bowers to Be Chief Deputy to City Atty.

Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo on Tuesday named Terree A. Bowers, a well-known local lawyer well regarded in the city’s legal community, as his chief deputy.

Bowers, a 46-year-old Massachusetts native, will bring nearly 20 years of experience as a prosecutor when he joins the office Aug. 13. Delgadillo praised Bowers for his commitment to public service and his determination to “get things accomplished.”

“His level of excellence is exactly the kind of mark we would like to set in the city attorney’s office,” said Delgadillo, who was elected to his post last month and took office July 1.

Bowers, a former interim U.S. attorney from Los Angeles, said he looks forward to creating an esprit de corps among the 450 lawyers and to developing what he called the untapped potential in the office. Bowers also plans to work with Delgadillo on reducing the city’s liability exposure and improving the relationship between the city and the Police Department.

“I think it’s an extraordinary opportunity,” said Bowers, who got the final word Monday night. “I think Rocky has a dynamic vision for the city attorney’s office that is really going to make a difference in the quality of life in Los Angeles, and I’m elated to be a part of it.”

Delgadillo considered several candidates for the job of chief deputy before deciding on Bowers, who also worked as a war crimes prosecutor in The Hague. Delgadillo said Bowers’ prosecutorial experience will complement his civil background. As the lead lawyer in the city attorney’s office, Bowers will make $158,082 and will manage all of the legal operations.

Bowers’ appointment was greeted with enthusiasm among lawyers and judges and was touted as a good sign of where the office is headed.

“It’s extraordinarily good news for the city,” said City Councilman Jack Weiss, who also worked at the U.S. attorney’s office. “I’m hard pressed to think of any federal prosecutor in Los Angeles with as stellar a reputation as Terree Bowers. He’s a consummate straight shooter.”

Los Angeles federal Judge Nora Manella said she was thrilled to hear about the choice of Bowers. “I think it’s a wonderful selection,” she said. “He’s calm, he’s not easily ruffled, he’s a consensus builder. He inspires confidence in those he works for and with.”

After graduating from law school at the University of Texas in 1979, Bowers began his legal career at the private firm of Adams, Duque & Hazeltine in Los Angeles. He became a federal prosecutor three years later and worked as an assistant U.S. attorney until being appointed interim U.S. attorney in 1992. For more than a year, Bowers led about 190 lawyers and served as the top federal law enforcement official in seven counties.

During his time at the U.S. attorney’s office, lawyers working for Bowers secured convictions of Lincoln Savings & Loan boss Charles H. Keating Jr. and Los Angeles Police Officers Laurence Powell and Stacey Koon, both convicted of violating Rodney G. King’s civil rights in the noted police brutality case.

When he was not reappointed U.S. attorney in 1993, he decided to go to the Netherlands to work at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. There, he served as lead prosecutor for the tribunal’s first genocide trial and co-prosecutor for the case against Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

His time in Europe was marred, however, by a personal tragedy.

While he and his wife, Donna, a former court reporter, were living in the Netherlands, she suffered carbon monoxide poisoning that eventually led to paralysis and to her death last Christmas Eve. Bowers is raising their two young daughters, ages 2 and 5, at the family’s Arcadia home.