Audrey Brodie Collins (born June 12, 1945) is a former

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, m ...

and an associate justice of the Second District Court of Appeal for the State of California.

Education and career

Born in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, Collins received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

in 1967, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

in 1969, and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 1977.

Teaching career

Audrey taught at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. from January to June 1969. She was a substitute teacher for the Vigo County School District in Indiana from September 1969 to June 1970. She served as the Assistant Director of the Manual High School-

University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed ...

Model Cities Project in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

from September 1970 to September 1971. She was a substitute teacher for John Adams Junior High School (now John Adams Middle School) which is part of the

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

in California from May to June 1972. She served as the Director of th
Norman Topping Student Aid Fund
from September 1972 to August 1974.

Law career

She was Assistant Attorney of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles in 1977. She was a deputy district attorney of the

Los Angeles County District Attorney The District Attorney of Los Angeles County is in charge of the office that prosecutes felony and misdemeanor crimes that occur within Los Angeles County, California, United States. The current district attorney (DA) is George Gascón. Some mi ...

's Office from 1978 to 1994, including stints as Head Deputy of the Torrance Branch Office from 1987 to 1988 and Assistant Director of the Bureaus of Central and Special Operations from 1988 to 1992. She was Assistant District Attorney from 1992 to 1994. She was a deputy general counsel, Office of the Special Advisor to the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

Board of Commissioners in 1992.

Federal judicial service

On January 27, 1994, Collins was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

to a seat on the

vacated by

Robert C. Bonner Robert Cleve Bonner (January 29, 1942) is an American lawyer and arbitration neutral, a former prosecutor, former United States District Judge, former Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration and former Commissioner of United States ...

. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on May 6, 1994, and received her commission on May 9, 1994. She served as

Chief Judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...

from 2009 to 2012. She retired from the bench on August 1, 2014 and became a justice of the California Court of Appeal.

Honors

In 2013, Collins was the co-recipient of Judge of the Year Award from the Loyola Law School Fidler Institute Award for Excellence and also the Meritorious Women Awardee from the Los Angeles NAACP Youth Council.

References

External links

Division Four: Associate Justice Audrey B. Collins (California Court of Appeal bio)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Audrey B. 1945 births Living people African-American judges American University alumni Howard University alumni Judges of the California Courts of Appeal Judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of California People from Chester, Pennsylvania United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton UCLA School of Law alumni 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges