Meet Evelyn
Mayor Evelyn G. Zneimer was elected to the City Council for District 1 on November 3, 2020. Previously, she was elected as City Clerk in November 2013, re-elected in November 2018 and continued to serve until she was sworn in as Councilmember on December 2, 2020. She is the ninth woman elected to City Council since 1888.
On April 13, 2024, Mayor Zneimer received the distinguished award from Congresswoman Judy Chu, as the 2024 Congressional Woman of the Year in South Pasadena.
Mayor Zneimer holds a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law and graduated with honors. She was elected as the first woman president of her law school graduating class and also was appointed as Managing Editor for the UWLA Law Review giving her a full-ride scholarship during her senior year. As a scholar, she studied at the University of Oxford, England, completing her international studies in Comparative Laws in Human Rights. She also completed her studies in Patent Laws from Marshall School of Law.
In November 2011, she was admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court and was sworn in by Chief Justice John C. Roberts, Jr.
Mayor Zneimer has been a South Pasadena resident for over 35 years. She served for 7 years as Commissioner for the Natural Resources Commission and 7 years as Commissioner for the Parks and Recreation Commission. She also served in many ad hoc committees and volunteered in civic organizations such as the South Pasadena Educational Foundation, South Pasadena Preservation Foundation, South Pasadena Chinese American Club, San Gabriel Valley Leadership Council for American Cancer Society and South Pasadena Community Gardens. She was instrumental in advocating for open space and in naming of the South Pasadena Arroyo Seco Woodland and Wildlife Park (Nature Park). She drafted the first amendments to the City’s Tree Ordinance, assisted in drafting the application for designation of Tree City USA and assisted in drafting the Community Gardens Bylaws. She is passionate in advocating for the no-smoking regulations within the City.
On October 19, 2019, in a formal military ball, Zneimer was honored and received the Alan K. Steinbrecker Award from the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Armed Forces Committee for her pro bono legal services to veterans and active military personnel.
On June 18, 2019, in Arlington, Virginia, she was awarded a Congressional Medal for her 20 years of loyal and faithful service as California Board Member for the United States Selective Service System. In 2014, she was given a Presidential Coin from President Barack Obama for her service to the US SSS. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton in June 1999 to this post and nominated by California Governor Gray Davis.
In January 2006, Mayor Zneimer was appointed Judge Pro Tem in the California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles and serve in this capacity today. She was also appointed as the Daily Settlement Officer for the Los Angeles Superior Court (Stanley Mosk Courthouse) in the Family Law Division since October 2013.
In June 2006, she received the National Leadership Award from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and was named as Honorary Chair for the Business Advisory Council for the NRCC.
Mayor Zneimer earned her Bachelor’s Degree from UCLA in Bacteriology and her Master’s Degree in Biology with specialty in Molecular and Behavioral Genetics from California State University, Los Angeles. She is a licensed registered representative having worked at Merrill Lynch Institutional Division in Los Angeles, trading U.S. government securities, bonds and foreign money market instruments for her corporate clients.
She is a member of the League of Women’s Voters, National Women’s Political Caucus, American Bar Association, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association, American Civil Liberties Union, California State Bar and The Recording Academy/The Grammys.
Mayor Zneimer owns and manages her law firm in Los Angeles since January 1998 and continues to practice today as state and federal trial attorney in the fields of immigration, family law and criminal defense. She has been published in various federal law books nationwide and was named in the Who’s Who Millenium Edition in her legal profession.
Mayor Zneimer is a Pacific Islander and single mother of two, Daphne and Samuel Zneimer, who grew up in South Pasadena and attended the City’s Blue Ribbon school.