Elena J. Duarte (born March–May 1966 in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

) is an Associate Justice of the California Third District Court of Appeal, having served since December 10, 2010, after being appointed to the post by Republican

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

on November 23, 2010.

Education

A native Californian of

Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

descent, Duarte attended the

University of the Pacific University of the Pacific may refer to: *University of the Pacific (Colombia) *University of the Pacific (Ecuador) *University of the Pacific (Peru) * University of the Pacific (United States) *University of Asia Pacific, Bangladesh * University of ...

for two years from 1984 to 1986 but transferred to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, where she earned 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 in 1989. She went on to earn 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 ...

degree from Stanford Law School in 1992.

Federal prosecutor

Upon graduating from Stanford, Duarte entered the U.S. Attorney General's Honor Program at the federal Department of Justice. During that time, she was a Special Assistant

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

, prosecuting criminal trials at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 1994, Duarte became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. In 2000, she transferred to the Central District of California, working in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

office. In September 2005, the '' Daily Journal'' named her one of California's Top 75 female litigators.

Judicial career

Governor

appointed Duarte as a Judge of the

Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The ...

on March 16, 2007, where she served from April 2007 to June 2008, while she was a resident of

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Fourteen months later on May 16, 2008, he appointed her as a Judge of the

Sacramento County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento, alternatively called the Sacramento County Superior Court, is the California Superior Court located in Sacramento with jurisdiction over Sacramento County. Courthouses Gordon D. Schaber ...

, where she served from June 2008 to December 2010. On November 23, 2010, he appointed her as an Associate Justice of the California Third District Court of Appeal while she was a resident of

El Dorado Hills El Dorado Hills (''El Dorado'', Spanish for "The Golden") is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in El Dorado County, California. Located in the Greater Sacramento region of Northern California, it had a population was 50,547 at ...

. She was confirmed to the appellate court on December 10, 2010.

Adjunct professor

Duarte is an adjunct professor at Sacramento's McGeorge School of Law and has previously taught at Stanford Law School,

San Francisco Law School San Francisco Law School is a private, for-profit law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest evening law school in the Western United States. The school became non-profit in 1941 and moved to Haight Street in 196 ...

, and

Santa Clara University School of Law The Santa Clara University School of Law (Santa Clara Law) is the law school of Santa Clara University, a Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States, in the Silicon Valley region. The School of Law was founded in 1911. The Jesuit ...

in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

; and at

USC Gould School of Law The USC Gould School of Law, located in Los Angeles, California, is the law school of the University of Southern California. The oldest law school in the Southwestern United States, USC Law traces its beginnings to 1896 and became affiliated with ...

, Loyola Law School, and Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.

References

External links

Official biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duarte, Elena J. 1966 births Living people University of Southern California alumni Stanford Law School alumni Lawyers who have represented the United States government American prosecutors American women judges Judges of the California Courts of Appeal Lawyers from Los Angeles People from Valencia, Santa Clarita, California Politicians from Sacramento, California People from El Dorado County, California Lawyers from Sacramento, California American politicians of Mexican descent 21st-century American women