L.A. County supervisors to give top attorney job to interim appointee

Los Angeles County supervisors picked a new top attorney in a closed-door meeting, six months after the previous county counsel abruptly stepped down.

The supervisors announced Tuesday that they had selected Mary Wickham, who is currently serving as the interim county counsel.

County spokesman Joel Sappell said the supervisors had interviewed three candidates for the post, but did not say whether the others were internal candidates or came from outside the county.

Before being tapped for the interim job, Wickham had headed up the county’s equity oversight panel, which oversees investigations into alleged workplace discrimination.

Prior to that, she had worked in the office of county counsel for 18 years in various roles, including advising the county on how to implement a federal consent decree over gender inequality in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Before that, she had worked for a private law firm and for the attorney general in Washington, D.C.

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Wickham’s predecessor, Mark Saladino, resigned after eight months on the job and returned to the department of Treasurer and Tax Collector -- which he had led prior to taking the top attorney post -- in a management position below his old job.

County officials and Saladino would not comment at the time about what led to his unexpected departure.

Prior county counsels also had relatively short terms. Prior to Saladino, top attorney John Krattli retired after less than three years on the job, and Krattli’s predecessor, Andrea Ordin, resigned after two.

Wickham’s appointment and salary will be finalized next week.

Twitter: @sewella

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