By Mike Siegel / The Oakland Post
After 52 years of civil rights litigation and 79 revolutions around the sun, my father Dan Siegel passed away on July 2, 2025. To the very end, he spent his time in struggle for a better world.
Here in Oakland, the community knew Dan through his political and legal work.
Born in the Bronx and raised in Long Island, he came to Berkeley in 1967 to study law and join the movement against the Vietnam War.
Dan was inspired to become a lawyer after spending the summer of 1965 volunteering with the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) to register voters in North Carolina. When I was growing up, my dad told me stories about being threatened by local “good ole boys” and getting freed from jail by a National Lawyers Guild attorney. He was radicalized by the experience, and committed himself to being a part of the Civil Rights Movement.
Dan’s time at UC Berkeley studying law set the stage for much of his life and career. In 1969, after being elected as Student Body President, he gave a key speech during a “People’s Park” protest that was followed by thousands of people marching from campus and confronting police and sheriff’s deputies. Governor Ronald Reagan called in the National Guard and numerous protestors were shot by police, including James Rector, a bystander who was killed.
As a result of his role in the People’s Park protest, Dan was charged with inciting a riot. The charges were later dismissed, but after he graduated from law school, the California State Bar cited Dan’s protest activity as evidence that he lacked the “moral character” to become an attorney. He would have to sue the State Bar, going all the way up to the California Supreme Court, to win the right to practice law. His legal victory, in this first case of his career, established an enduring precedent – that protest activity cannot be used to disqualify a person from practicing law.
With that starting point for his career, Dan spent the next five decades fighting for the underdog and taking on entrenched power. Much of his practice was focused on representing workers against abusive employers. He represented cannery workers in Watsonville, California and pipeline workers in Anchorage, Alaska. He counted numerous unions among his clients, including janitors and healthcare workers. Along with his wife (my mom) Anne Weills, they won major legal victories against numerous colleges and universities for unlawful employment practices, including claims for racial discrimination, sex discrimination, and retaliation against whistleblowers.
Dan and Anne also took on cases relating to police brutality and civil rights. They were part of the movement to demand accountability for the murder of Oscar Grant by BART police in 2009, and represented the family of Alan Blueford, a Skyline High School student killed by Oakland police in 2012. They played a major role in litigation to limit the use of solitary confinement in California prisons, winning major decisions on behalf of maximum security prisoners at Pelican Bay and San Quentin.
Truthfully, to recount all of the work my dad was a part of is impossible in the context of an obituary. Growing up with him, I saw how there were always clients to represent. We talked about their cases at the dinner table. Many became extensions of our family and community. In many instances, there was not a financial reason to take on these cases – Dan was representing people because it was the right thing to do, and because he could use his legal skills to help someone.
There are other important chapters in Dan’s story, apart from the law. He spent two terms on the OUSD School Board, working to foster community-based schools. He served on the Oakland Housing Authority Board, an appointee of Mayor Elihu Harris. He volunteered for Mayor Jean Quan before the two split over the Occupy Oakland movement. He made himself available for a lot of people, and a lot of causes, across the East Bay.
Dan was also a family man. In some ways, as you might imagine, having a dad who was so politically engaged and hard-working meant that he wasn’t home as much as we might like. But I will always remember the roles he played. Every night, just about, he cooked dinner for my mom, my brother and I, often going to elaborate efforts to prepare delicious food from various cuisines. He could make Italian food, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian. My cousins praise his fried chicken to this day. There were many memorable meals at the house, with lively conversation.
Dan also loved to travel. He and my mom took backpacking trips to Alaska, kayaking in remote national parks, and they also took two treks to the Himalayas. He took the whole family on trips, whether it was car camping in the earlier years or trips to Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia when us kids were more grown.
And in every setting, he was disciplined and organized. Whether it was making a shopping list for a big meal, organizing all the camping gear for a five-night excursion, or preparing for a three week civil rights trial, he was always willing to do the work of planning and preparation.
Until the end, that is. There’s no true plan or preparation for cancer. I think he was surprised, really, that he couldn’t defeat cancer by force of will.
Just three weeks before his death, Dan gave a speech at the “No Kings” protest in Oakland, condemning Trump and his white supremacist backers. It took all his strength for the day, but he was committed to showing up and sharing some of his wisdom and analysis.
I think that’s how he’d like to be remembered. As someone who showed up and gave everything he could for the cause of justice, right to the end.
Posted with permission from The Oakland Post, which publishes in print with digital versions here.
Read Dan Siegel’s original work for ScheerPost here.
Read more about Dan Siegel:
- Dan Siegel, ‘fearless’ civil rights attorney, dies at 79 — The Oaklandside
- Remembering Dan Siegel, who told the crowd to take People’s Park on Bloody Thursday — Berkeleyside
- Dan Siegel, celebrated Bay Area civil rights lawyer who led People’s Park protests, dies at 79 — East Bay Times