FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2024
Los Angeles, CA—Today the People’s Parity Project and Isabella Lee, a recent graduate of UCLA Law, released “Imbalanced Justice: California,” our most recent installment in a series of reports on professional diversity on state benches across the country. This new report examines the professional backgrounds of 1,900 judges on the appellate and superior courts in the Golden State. The report finds that more than half of those judges—including more than two-thirds of Court of Appeals judges—had worked as either corporate lawyers or prosecutors before reaching the bench. Only a fifth of the judges surveyed had worked as civil rights lawyers, public defenders, legal aid attorneys, or in other positions dedicated to serving the people, rather than powerful interests.
While the governor and others with a role in nominating judges have improved demographic diversity, they need to prioritize improvising professional diversity. Our new report identifies additional ways for the public to push for a more professionally diverse, more pro-people bench.
In response to the report’s findings, People’s Parity Project’s Executive Director Molly Coleman issued the following statement:
“Everyday, state courts make many of the most important decisions affecting the rights and freedoms of the American people. Who sits on these benches is critically important—and yet the composition of state courts has been both understudied and under-appreciated as a potential site of significant social change. This report not only helps people understand the state of the justice landscape in California, but starts to point the path forward to building a truly pro-people bench.”
Isabella Lee, author of the report, said: “Having recently navigated both law school and the job market, I saw firsthand how the legal profession’s culture of elitism and gatekeeping consolidates power and prestige among lawyers who primarily serve corporate and state interests, while devaluing those who advocate for the people. This ‘prestige pipeline’ plays a crucial role in the widespread lack of access to justice in this country. Addressing the overrepresentation of corporate attorneys and prosecutors on the state bench is an essential step toward dismantling this culture. California has a legacy of leading the nation in progressive lawmaking and reform. By following the recommendations in this report, California can live up to its reputation and lead the way to a more professionally diverse, people-centered judiciary.”
Additional resources:
- “Jobs, Judges, and Justice: The Relationship between Professional
- Diversity and Judicial Decisions,” by Joanna Shepherd
- “Imbalanced Justice: Massachusetts,” by Billy Corriher
- “Impact of Judges Professional Backgrounds on Eviction Outcomes,” by Steve Kennedy and Grace Brunner
- “Imbalanced Justice: Arizona,” by Billy Corriher
- “Imbalanced Justice: Georgia,” by Billy Corriher
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People’s Parity Project is a movement of attorneys and law students organizing for a democratized legal system which values people over profits, builds the power of working people, and opposes subordination of any form. Together, we are dismantling a profession that upholds corporate power and building a legal system that is a force for justice and equity. Our work focuses on building power for working people in the civil legal system through organizing, policy innovation, political education, and solidarity. Learn more: www.peoplesparity.org/about.