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LaDoris Hazzard Cordell is an American retired judge of the
Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civ ...
of
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
and former Independent Police Auditor for the city of
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 ...
. She is an advocate for improving transparency into charges of
police misconduct Police misconduct refers to inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: coerced false confession, intimidation, false arrest, false impris ...
. She was assistant dean at the
Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...
, where she helped develop a program to increase minority recruitment. Within a year, Stanford Law School went from last to first place in enrollment of African-American and Hispanic students, among major law schools. She was the first female
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
judge in Northern California and the first female African-American
Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civ ...
judge in
Santa Clara County, California Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together ...
. Her memoir, ''Her Honor: My Life on the Bench...What Works, What's Broken, and How to Change It'', was published in 2021.


Education

Cordell received her bachelor's degree from
Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was i ...
in 1971 and her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1974.


Career

In 1975, Cordell was the first person in the Western United States to serve as the Earl Warren Intern at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. From 1976 to 1982, she practiced as a private attorney in
East Palo Alto East Palo Alto (abbreviated E.P.A.) is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 30,034. It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of ...
, specializing in criminal defense law, personal injury law, family law, and federal civil rights law. From 1978 to 1982, she was assistant dean for Student Affairs at Stanford Law School. In 1982, California 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 ...
appointed Cordell to be a
municipal court City court or municipal court is a court of law with jurisdiction limited to a city or other municipality. It typically addresses "violations of city ordinances and may also have jurisdiction over minor criminal cases...and over certain civil cases ...
judge for the County of Santa Clara. As municipal court judge, she was the first California judge to order breath devices installed into the cars of drivers convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol, and was presiding judge from 1985 to 1986. In 1988, she was elected to become a superior court judge for the County of Santa Clara, where she served as supervising judge for the probate court from 1994 to 1995, supervising judge of the family court from 1990 to 1992, and presiding judge of the superior court appellate department in 1993. From 2001 to 2009, Cordell served as Stanford University's vice provost and special counselor to the president for campus relations, where she supervised the Office for Campus relations. In a campaign in which she refused monetary contributions, she was elected to the Palo Alto City Council in 2004, where she served until 2008. From 2010 to 2015, she served as Independent Police Auditor for the City of San Jose, CA. In 2018, Cordell led the opposition to a petition to recall fellow Stanford graduate and Santa Clara County Judge
Aaron Persky Michael Aaron Persky (born 1962) is an American attorney and former judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court from 2003 to 2018. He gained attention after his ruling in the case '' People v. Turner'', in which he in June 2016 sentenced Sta ...
, after Persky's sentencing of
Brock Turner ''People v. Turner'', formally ''The People of the State of California v. Brock Allen Turner'' (2015), is a high-profile criminal case in which Brock Allen Turner was convicted by jury trial of three counts of felony sexual assault. On Januar ...
to six months in county jail for three counts of
sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, whi ...
sparked a public backlash. Persky was successfully recalled later that year. Cordell appeared as the judge on the American
reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
prime-time
court show A court show (also known as a judge show, legal/courtroom program, courtroom series, or judicial show) is a broadcast programming subgenre of either legal dramas or reality legal programming. Court shows present content mainly in the form of lega ...
'' You the Jury'', canceled after two episodes. Upon publication of her book, Cordell was interviewed as the guest on the KQED radio program ''Forum''. In relation to her book, she discussed a number of the problems she considered to be present in the legal system. She described the book as a "primoir, " i.e. a combination of a primer and a memoir.


Awards

She has received numerous awards and prizes for social activism and breaking race and gender barriers, including the
Rose Bird Memorial Award A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...
from the
California Women Lawyers California Women Lawyers (CWL) is the statewide bar association for women in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Sacramento, CWL was founded in 1974 to seek the professional advancement of women lawyers, to promote gender equity in th ...
and the
Rosa Parks Ordinary People Award Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) *Rosa (surname) *Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places *223 Rosa, an asteroid * Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States *Rosa, Germany, in Thuringia, Ge ...
from the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
.Women Trailblazers, American Bar Association
/ref>


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cordell, LaDoris Living people Date of birth missing (living people) African-American judges Antioch College alumni Stanford University people People from Santa Clara County, California People from Palo Alto, California People from East Palo Alto, California Superior court judges in the United States American women judges 1949 births 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women