Brianna Lee is the engagement producer for College Pathways for the LAist and KPCC newsroom.
Evaluating judicial candidates is notoriously hard, but there are a few pieces of information you can look at to help with your decision.uperior Court judges oversee trials across all of L.A. County. There are more than 400 of them in the court system.
These trials cover everything having to do with state and local laws, including family law , contract disputes, thefts, felony murder, probate and small claims.handing down rulings based on the evidence and their interpretation of the law If the law is very clear on a given issue, a judge has to stick to it regardless of how they personally feel. In other cases, laws may be ambiguous, and that’s when a judge has to issue their own interpretation of the law. Judges also have a fair amount of discretion when it comes to handing down penalties, such as the length of a sentence for a criminal conviction or the payment sum for a civil case. That's where it starts to really matter who is in the seat.Our election newsletter helps you make sense of the choices on your ballot and what the results mean for your life in SoCal. Starts again this fall.Superior Court judges serve six-year terms, but they don’t always have to face reelection when that time is up. They’ll only appear on your ballot if someone challenges their seat at the end of their term — and even then, sometimes that will result in a dozen or more seats up for election in a given year. Judges who go unchallenged automatically get reelected into their next term and never appear on the ballot at all.Your traffic ticket dispute. Or your child custody case. Or that time you served on a jury. If you’ve never had to interact with the court system, you’ve definitely heard of a case the L.A. Superior Court has handled: think Evaluating judicial candidates is notoriously hard. There can be dozens of them in a given election, and since many candidates are wary of politicizing judgeships, they don’t spend a lot of money on campaign advertising, which makes it hard to find out who they are or what they stand for. Plus, these are nonpartisan seats, so you don’t have the option of just voting for candidates who identify as a member of the party with whom you’re registered. This is really not an easy task for the average voter, but there are a few pieces of information you can look at to help with your decision.from Judge Stuart Rice, an L.A. Superior Court judge and a past president of the California Judges Association :: The L.A. County Bar Association is the main professional association for L.A.’s legal community. During every election, LACBA undertakes a lengthyfor each judicial candidate. We include the LACBA ratings in our guide because they can be one of the only ways for a voter without a legal background to assess whether an L.A. County Superior Court Judge candidate is qualified for the bench. These ratings are the opinion of a private, volunteer membership group unaffiliated with the state bar, and the committeeYou can keep trustworthy and independent voter guides coming with your $10 donation now., you can keep our voter guide accessible and up to date, helping you and your neighbors make informed choices in local elections.With LACBA, candidates fill out questionnaires and do in-person interviews with an evaluation committee, and have to submit a list of 75 lawyers or judges who can act as personal references. The committee follows up with each one and then gives candidates one of four ratings:“The number one quality a judge needs is an ability to work with people,” Judge Rice said. “And you need the ability to stay calm, to listen to all kinds of people, to have what I call a proper judicial demeanor.” This is one reason LACBA ratings can be useful for evaluating a candidate — they’re supposed to take temperament and personality into account in addition to legal ability. Another caveat, however, is that these evaluations don’t tell you exactlyThese are nonpartisan seats, but you’ll still see endorsements from newspapers, politicians and issue-based organizations, just like any political contest. If there’s an organization you trust, their endorsement might tip the scales for you.The only requirement for being a judge is to be authorized to practice law in California , or to have already served as a judge for 10 years in California. That means you might find a wide range of legal experience among candidates. If they were a judge before, or have significant trial experience, that’s a big clue as to how prepared they may be for the job on Day 1. Having a history as a prosecutor or defense attorney can also tell you they’ve had a lot of experience in court, and give you an idea of their potential approach to criminal justice issues.Someone hired by court judges to do lower-level judicial work, such as traffic violation hearings or small claims. “Once chosen as a commissioner, you are already doing the job as a judge,” said Rice .An attorney who works for the county counsel’s office, giving legal advice to different departments and representing the county in various litigation issues.An attorney who handles lawsuits on behalf of a city government. In places like L.A., deputy city attorneys also act as prosecutors for misdemeanors.These are general titles used to describe anyone authorized to practice law, whether they’re a law professor, private defense attorney, in-house counsel at a company, or someone who’s passed the bar exam but isn’t actually working as a lawyer. You’ll likely have to dig a bit more to find out the candidate’s actual work experience.Until recently, judicial candidates would frequently use their job titles on the ballot as a campaign marketing tool. Candidates would list themselves as “violent crimes prosecutor,” “child molestation prosecutor,” or “domestic violence attorney” to catch voters’ eye — and the tactic largely worked. Aput an end to that practice, so now you see much more neutral titles like the ones above. If a candidate doesn’t even bother having a website or online presence where you can learn more about them, that’s a signal they may not be running a serious campaign, Rice said. Campaign websites can also give you more detailed information about a candidate’s background, mission and experience.whether it’s a good idea to elect our judiciary — does it cause judges to worry more about being popular instead of making the right decisions in cases? Some critics also point to L.A.’s 2006 judicial elections, in which a well-respected sitting judge who had served on the court for over 20 years unexpectedlyLet a judge help you judge the L.A. Superior Court candidates Metropolitan News-EnterpriseWith all the above in mind, here is our judges guide. It includes all 10 candidates vying for the five remaining seats. Each profile has the candidate's job, campaign website, a link to their full list of endorsements, and the L.A. County Bar Association ratings when applicable ( Voters again have the opportunity to decide between three public defender and district attorney match-ups. Public defenders are employed by the government to represent people who have been accused of crimes and can’t afford a private lawyer. Experts argue that public defenders can offer a well-rounded perspective because they’ve spent more time defending everyday people in a justice system that’s long hadBefore you read more, we wanted to take a moment to tell you about our mission here at LAist, and why we're so dedicated to helping you get ready to vote. In the lead-up to this important election, our hard-working reporters and editors spent hundreds and hundreds of hours researching and writing these detailed guides and fact-based resources. We invested that time because we're here to help you vote confidently and make your community a better place. But we cannot do this essential work without your help. We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you. At a time when the need for local journalism has never been greater, many newsrooms are facing cutbacks, including LAist. Member support — your support — is what will sustain a free press in Southern California. LAist’s mission is to be here for you, so please be here for us now with a donation to power our trusted local reporting. Step up right now and make the choice to give. Because that’s exactly what it is — a choice. It's choice with consequences. If readers do not choose to step up and donate, the future of fact-based news in Southern California will not be as strong.You ask, and we'll answer: Whether it's about how to interpret the results or track your ballot, we're here to help you understand the 2024 general election on Nov. 5.Feds search homes of OC Supervisor Andrew Do, Judge Cheri Pham and their daughter Federal agents on Thursday searched the family home of O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do and his wife — O.C. Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Cheri Pham — as well as a home owned by their daughter Rhiannon Do.The repayment demands, detailed in Orange County letters obtained by LAist, come as officials found that the nonprofit Viet America Society failed to show that meals to seniors were handed out as required under a county contract. Supervisor Andrew Do did not respond to requests for comment.Questions swirled about millions of tax dollars in OC. After months of silence, a key figure weighs in In her first public statements since controversy erupted over millions of unaccounted for tax dollars, Rhiannon Do says she’s no longer with the O.C. nonprofit Viet America Society. She also says she never had a leadership role. Public documents show otherwise.After San Gabriel's city council rejected the proposal as"too narrow", one city councilmember argued the entire DEI commission, created in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, had"run its course."Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian has yet to schedule a meeting to discuss ethics reforms — more than a year-and-a-half after they were first proposed.LA's progressive DA is in a fight to keep his job — why that may turn into a national throwdown Incumbent George Gascón faces a more conservative challenger, Nathan Hochman, on the November ballot. The race could drive passions and fundraising on the part of advocates for more reforms and backers of law and order policies.Why we villainize coyotes, and more things you need to know about themWhy homelessness has more than doubled in LA County’s once-affordable northern desert
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