Attorney Profile

Darlene R. Kemp is an attorney with a long history of working in the legal field. She is experienced in both criminal and civil litigation. Her legal career began with the Santa Cruz District Attorney's Office. She worked for five years in investigations with the Sexual Assault Team and in the victim witness department where she assisted victims of violent crimes.  During this same period of time, she volunteered at Women's Crisis Support  and Walnut Avenue Women's Shelter. 

Her civil experience began at the law firm Cartwright, Fulton & Adams where she handled personal injury cases. In 2000, she was hired as an associate at the law firm of Grunsky, Ebey, Farrar & Howell expanding her civil litigation training by handling a myriad of cases involving insurance defense, medical malpractice, employment law and other civil matters. She developed excellent negotiating skills handling numerous mediations and was a successful advocate for her clients in many civil trials. She also introduced the area of family law to the law firm and handled all family law matters. In addition, she was responsible for all Landlord/Tenant legal matters.

Her clients include many of the local property management companies. She has been a guest speaker for local realty companies discussing the eviction process and other property management topics.

Darlene received her Juris Doctorate in 2000 from the Santa Clara University School of Law. She graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz in 1996 with honors in a double major of Politics and Environmental Studies. In 2000, she was admitted to the California Bar and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. She has been recognized as Attorney of the Month by the Santa Cruz Bar Association. She was President of the Santa Cruz Young Lawyers 2001-2003 and the Northern California Representative for the American Bar Association 2002-2003.

She is an active member of her community and has served as President of the local Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter and volunteered with the children's ministry at Twin Lakes Church in Aptos. She also participates in the Elementary Law Program every year by working with the local public elementary schools and teaching students about the legal system and the differences between criminal and civil law. The students are able to participate in a mock trial held at the local courthouse.