Larsen '74 Honored with Humanitarian Award

James Larsen '74 received the San Joaquin County Bar Foundation's inaugural Humanitarian Award on October 12, 2007 for his work with the local legal community.

Larsen is chief of the San Joaquin County Public Defender's Office. He was born in Santa Cruz and raised in nearby Boulder Creek. He attended California State University, Chico, and served in the Army for two years before law school at UC Davis School of Law.

In 1976, a job in the county's Public Defender's Office brought him to Stockton. For two decades, he has led the office of attorneys who represent criminal defendants too poor to hire private attorneys.

Larsen said in an article in The Stockton Recorder that he's most proud of helping launch two drug programs. And once each month, he stands next to clients in homeless court at a local shelter to help the county's downtrodden clear their records and regain control of their lives. He helped start the program last year.

The Stockton Record/May 12, 2007