Joshua Paul Groban (born August 15, 1973) is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the
California Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...
. He was appointed to the California Supreme Court by Governor
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...
on November 14, 2018.
Education and law career
Groban was raised in
Del Mar, California
Del Mar (; Spanish for "Of the Sea") is a beach town in San Diego County, California, located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1885 as a seaside resort, the city incorporated in 1959. The Del Mar Horse Races are hosted on the De ...
and graduated from
Torrey Pines High School
Torrey Pines High School is a high school in the North County Coastal area of San Diego, California. The school is named after the Torrey pine tree that grows in the area. Torrey Pines High School is a member of the San Dieguito Union High Schoo ...
. His father is a physician at
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
hospital, and his mother, Deborah Isackson Groban, served as a member of
Del Mar
Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "from the sea". It may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Del Mar, California
* Del Mar High School, located in San Jose, California
* Del Mar racetrack, located in Del Mar, California
* Del Mar Fai ...
City Council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
. Groban attended
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, obtaining 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 1995, and
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
, obtaining 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 in 1998.
Groban began his legal career serving as a
law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
to
U.S. District Judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
William C. Conner
William Curtis Conner (March 27, 1920 – July 9, 2009) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. His rulings during his 35 years of service covered a broad range of issues, incl ...
in the
Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New Y ...
from 1998 to 1999.
He was in private practice at
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (known as Paul, Weiss) is an American multinational law firm headquartered on Sixth Avenue in New York City. By profits per equity partner, it is the fifth most profitable law firm in the world.
...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
from 1999 to 2005, and at
Munger, Tolles & Olson
Munger, Tolles, & Olson LLP (MTO) is a Californian law firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Charles Munger founded the firm in 1962 along with six other attorneys.
Legal practice
Munger, Tolles & Olson is know ...
in
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' ...
from 2005 to 2010.
Groban served as counsel to Brown's campaign for California governor in the
2010 California gubernatorial election
The 2010 California gubernatorial election was held November 2, 2010 to elect the Governor of California. The primary elections were held on June 8, 2010. Because constitutional office holders in California have been prohibited from serving more ...
.
Upon Brown's election, he served in the administration overseeing state judicial appointments and advising on litigation and policy. He was Brown's fourth appointment to the seven-member Supreme Court. Groban teaches State
Appellate Practice at the
UCLA School of Law
The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...
.
[
]
California Supreme Court
On November 14, 2018, Groban was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...
to serve as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...
. to replace Associate Justice Kathryn Werdegar
}
Kathryn Jocelyn Mickle Werdegar (born April 5, 1936) is a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California, serving from June 3, 1994, to August 31, 2017.
Biography
Werdegar earned her B.A. with honors at the University of California ...
, who retired on August 31, 2017. Groban was confirmed on December 21, 2018, and was sworn into office on January 3, 2019. He joined the court when it reconvened on January 8, 2019.
, following the 2022 election, he was retained by California voters to continue to serve as an associate justice with 68.4% of an affirmative vote.
See also
* List of Jewish American jurists
This is a list of notable Jewish American jurists. For other famous Jewish Americans, see Lists of American Jews.
Supreme Court of the United States
Federal judges Appellate judges
* Robert E. Bacharach, Judge of the United States Court of ...
* List of justices of the Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest judicial body in the state and sits at the apex of the judiciary of California. Its membership consists of the Chief Justice of California and six associate justices who are nominated by the Governor ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Groban, Joshua
1973 births
Living people
Justices of the Supreme Court of California
Harvard Law School alumni
Lawyers from Los Angeles
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison people
People from Del Mar, California
Stanford University alumni
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
People associated with Munger, Tolles & Olson