Jerry Deschler
General Counsel
Jerry Deschler serves as the General Counsel for the California Community Colleges, Chancellor’s office. He advises and assists the Chancellor and the Board of Governors on legal and policy issues and is responsible for the supervision of five attorneys and staff in the Office of General Counsel.
Before joining the Chancellor’s Office, Jerry worked for the law firm of Hoge, Fenton, Jones & Appel in San Jose from 2001 to 2004 and Jackson Lewis LLP from 2004 to 2015, where he advised and represented private sector clients in corporate and employment litigation in state and federal courts. Most recently, he served for more than a decade at the California Department of Justice, including as a Supervising Deputy Attorney General in the Employment Law Section, where he supervised attorneys, managed complex litigation, and provided counsel to numerous state departments and agencies. Jerry brings nearly 25 years of experience in employment law, advising and defending both private-sector employers and public agencies.
Jerry started his higher educational pursuits at Chabot Community College and later graduated from UC Berkeley, cum laude. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine School of Law. He credits his time at Chabot for changing the trajectory of his professional future and looks forward to advising the Chancellor’s office on all legal matters.
Kristin Lindgren-Bruzzone
Assistant General Counsel
Kristin Lindgren-Bruzzone is the Assistant General Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel. Kristin provides legal counsel to the Chancellor, Board of Governors and all CO Divisions and supervises the attorneys in the Office of the General Counsel and the Director, People and Culture.
Kristin has dedicated her legal career to public education and has over two decades of experience in education law. Prior to coming to the Chancellor’s Office, Kristin spent sixteen years representing community college districts and school districts at the firms Liebert Cassidy Whitmore and Kingsley Bogard in education law, including the specific areas of employment and labor, governance and ethics, and student issues. Most recently, Kristin served as the General Counsel for the California School Boards Association, a nonprofit membership organization for public K-12 school board members, after having served as the Deputy General Counsel. At CSBA, Kristin provided legal and strategic advice and counsel to the CEO & Executive Director, a 31-member nonprofit board made up of elected public school board members from across California, acted as Director of the Education Legal Alliance, and oversaw all Legal and Human Resources operations.
Kristin received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from California State University, Chico and earned her Juris Doctorate at the University of California, Davis King Hall School of Law.
