The Branson School: Ross, CA

Chava David (Ha-vah Dah-veed) was born into a prominent Jewish family in San Francisco, California. Her father, Moshe David, is a leader in the Jewish community and a renown human rights lawyer and advocate. He has made a name for himself through numerous books and civil actions as well as his vocal support of Middle Eastern peace and the two state proposal. Her mother, Miriam Greenblat, is a feminist professor of Jewish Studies at UC-Berkeley.

Chava (sometimes Eve or Eva) is an only child and grew up in a quiet, upper class San Francisco neighborhood. She was bright and precocious, spending her first four years surrounded by the intellectual elite of the her parents' social circles. When she was four she tested into early admission to a private Jewish day school. Afterward, she went to a well-known boarding school in Marin County, and then onto University of California Berkeley.

At UC-Berkeley, Chava studied a range of topics, shifting her major five times, though she still graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She did a junior year abroad at Trinity College in Oxford University. By the time she completed her undergrad degree, she fulfilled pre-law requirements, got a 178 on her LSAT, and had a dual major in "Gender and Women's Studies" and "Folklore" because she thought the latter was ridiculously interesting (and both irritated her father). She wrote for the university paper, was an editor of the literary magazine, chapter president of Alpha Epsilon Phi, and had taken lead roles in several campus Shakespeare productions. On top of it all, she'd kept a busy, tumultuous, and often debauchery-filled lifestyle.

After Berkeley, Chava went on to Stanford University for Law School. This decision was, in part to satisfy her father's wishes, but also because she hadn't quite decided where she fit or what she wanted to do next: three reasons for which they say never to go to law school. However, Chava took well to the law, finding easy success after having been exposed to it since her conception. She took another page from her father in choosing to specialize in Civil Rights and Criminal law.

Throughout her law school experience, Chava received high marks despite keeping up the fast-paced lifestyle she'd begun in her undergraduate. On top of frequenting A-list parties and taking lavish vacations with friends, she was able to buckle down when necessary (though she would say that she is "just that damn smart"). She served as editor of the law review, obtained high profile internships, and graduated in the top ten percent of her class.

After graduation, she had a forced reevaluation of her life. Her parents, rabbi, and other close friends staged an intervention. They worried about her high-profile partying, her drinking, her questionable use of other substances, and her overall health. She spent the summer outside of California, taking a week's tour of Israel, and also disappearing from her public lifestyle. It was speculated that she went into rehab in Utah, but she'd neither confirmed or denied that, and claims she spent most of the time "hiding out" and studying for the bar.

Whatever she did over the course of that summer, Chava passed the bar her first attempt. Starting in September 2004, she began a two year clerkship with Chief Justice James Riker of the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Through that she was a part of several large cases, many of which involved Civil Rights. After this experience, she was asked by a family friend, State Senator Chaim Rubin of San Francisco, to be a civil rights policy advisor for his US Senate campaign. He asked Chava to stay on after he won, but she declined to pursue a position as an Assistant District Attorney. She was officially named in mid-2007.

Chava has already made a name for herself as being a tough prosecutor. She often positions herself to take the cases others dread: particularly those involving rape or other crimes against women. She is liked by the press and celebrated for her youth, vitality, compassion, and competency, and is known for the same creative and impassioned arguments that got her attention in law school.

She has a reputation for being a friend of the police department, though she makes high demands of them and will drill testifying officers and detectives for hours in preparation of cross examination. Some more veteran members of the department find this insulting. She is famous for calling it as she sees it, which sometimes results in her exceedingly liberal upbringing getting the best of her. Chava is also not necessarily well liked by her colleagues, though the District Attorney seems to believe she could part the waters of San Francisco Bay.

There are two very different Chava Davids. On the one side, there's an all-business, hard-core prosecutor who can recite Constitutional Law in her sleep. She's a community activist and a loud, opinionated, abrasive, and winning, a champion for victims: a strong, vocal proponent of responsible law and order.

On the other side, there's the private, off-duty Chava, who has a reputation for being a 'free spirit'. She likes to go out with friends to clubs, bars, and coffee shops throughout the Bay Area, and has attended numerous peace rallies and protests. She's brilliant and privileged with a bright future ahead of her but has gotten into her share of 'rich kid' trouble, which, because of her father's prominence, has ensured her share of media attention. During college and law school she was notorious for dating the rich and famous of either gender; she is candid, open, and political about her bi-sexuality (though she has been involved with more women than men).

It is important to note that the intervention staged after Chava graduated from Stanford has all but stuck. While she still enjoys the night life, she rarely stays out for all of it and she has certainly left 'other substances' and excessive drinking behind her, along with rampant promiscuity. She has only recently ended a two year relationship with feminist columnist Hannah Hawke, a break-up that still weights heavily. They've tried to remain friends, but it has been rocky to say the least.

Chava owns a grey Siberian cat named Charlie. She speaks Hebrew and Arabic fluently, Spanish only a little less so. She is proud of his Jewish heritage and is a member of the Reform Judaism congregation in Sierra Falls. She does not keep kosher except during and in preparation for the Sabbath, which she starting keeping (except in extreme situations) after Stanford.