When District Attorney Jack Meehan retired in 1994, he anointed Orloff as his successor and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors appointed him as the new DA.
[2] Orloff's office found itself in the middle of controversy in early 2009 over its pending decision whether to charge a crime in the BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant.
Though Orloff charged Johannes Mehserle with murder, some activists complained that he took too long to do so.
[3] Criminal law expert and Boalt Hall Law School Professor Franklin Zimring, however, called Orloff's office one of the "better departments" in the United States.
[3] Orloff unsuccessfully prosecuted the Oakland Riders police abuse case, dropping charges after two mistrials from hung juries.