SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Fox News Digital reported that District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who replaced the ousted Chesa Boudin, is under fire after she promoted a close friend to her chief of staff despite having zero legal experience. Monifa Williams was hired despite being trained as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner while holding down a second job as a professor at a local university.
Williams earns a cool $289,000 annually as Jenkins’ chief of staff. She earns an additional $100,000 as an assistant nursing professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. Williams was initially hired by Jenkins in 2022 to run the office’s Victim’s Services Division, again with no experience. Williams started her new position in March.
Fox News Digital reached out to Jenkins, who said she is “proud” to have Williams as her chief of staff and claims her hiring didn’t amount to a conflict of interest. Fox News Digital noted that this was the first time in the office’s history that the chief of staff role has been filled by someone who wasn’t a lawyer.
“As a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Monifa brings an unparalleled wealth of experience and expertise in providing trauma-informed care to victims of crime and people impacted by the criminal justice system,” Jenkins said. “In her role as Chief of Staff, Monifa oversees the Victim Services Division, the policy team, grants, special projects, and programming.”
Jenkins noted that Willis will also oversee the launch of new programs and initiatives focused on crime prevention and intervention efforts.
Willis earned her nursing degree and then earned her master’s degree at UCSF in 2014, later becoming certified as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, according to her biography on the UCSF website.
Jenkins’ denial of nepotism was met with heavy skepticism by her political opponent, Ryan Khojasteh, a former prosecutor who is running against Jenkins, his former boss. He said that her initial hiring was nepotism made worse by the fact that she doesn’t possess a license to practice law.
“She is not qualified to be the number two position in a criminal law office,” he told Fox News Digital. “It’s baffling to me that Jenkins thought this was even remotely a good idea.”
Jenkins’ office disputes that, claiming the chief of staff position does not require a law degree as an exempt position. They believe that Willis meets the qualifications for that position.
Job qualifications for the position state it requires four years of managerial experience in a supervisory role in a legal, legislative, or clinical social environment. The position does not oversee prosecutors, a job that is done by the chief assistant district attorney.
The San Francisco Standard reported that Willis and Jenkins have been acquaintances since high school where they were teammates on the track-and-field team, according to a 2022 Mission Local report. Public Venmo accounts dating back to 2021 show the two have gone to dinner, rented a car, attended a football game, and visited a waxing salon together.
Despite a prohibition on employees in the DA’s office from holding outside employment that would take time away from their duties at work on a regular basis, Willis continues to work as a professor at UCSF. When she was appointed to chief of the Victim Services Division, she filed a secondary employment form, the DA’s office told Fox News Digital. Jenkins’ office verbally approved her request for the second job.
“She agreed to change her course time but did not immediately file an updated secondary employment form. She filed an updated secondary employment form on 7/25/2025, as soon as this oversight came to her attention,” the DA’s office said. They said her employment at UCSF is not an issue.
“She teaches one class on Wednesday evenings during UCSF’s Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters,” the DA’s office said. “She does not teach in the Summer. Her teaching responsibilities do not impact her ability to perform any of her job duties at the District Attorney’s Office.”
A former employee who worked under Jenkins, Lexa Grayner, who now works in the Alameda County DA’s Office, slammed her for her decision to hire Willis as her chief of staff.
“This is just one more incident that validates what we’ve known all along about Brooke Jenkins,” she told Fox News Digital. “She is not someone we can trust. She is making decisions for her own political career at the jeopardy of criminal justice in San Francisco.”
Jenkins' office refused to issue a comment to Fox News Digital about the circumstances of Grayner’s departure.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Ethics Commission, which maintains oversight over the administration and enforcement of ethics standards across San Francisco agencies, declined comment on the matter.
Jenkins was appointed DA by Mayor London Breed in 2022 after the recall of Boudin. She was elected to the position in November 2022. After taking over the office, Jenkins conducted a purge of the office, including Khojasteh. A number of other staffers have left on their own, destabilizing the office Khojasteh said.
“What Jenkins has done is reward her friends and her allies at the expense of a well-run and functioning office,” Khojasteh said.
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