Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams Court was confirmed Wednesday to serve as a federal judge for the Central District of California.
The U.S. Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s nomination of Court, who will preside over matters at the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
She fills the vacancy that arose when U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer assumed senior status in May.
Court has served as a Superior Court judge for the past dozen years following her appointment by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. She presided over civil and family law matters, and served as supervising judge of the civil division since December 2022.
Court has also served on the Judicial Council of California’s rules and technology committees and several of its advisory bodies.
Prior to her appointment as a state court judge, from 2002 to 2012, Court served in multiple roles at Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm focused on poverty law. As vice president and general counsel, she directed the legal work of more than 30 staff attorneys and advocates.
Additionally, in 2006, Court served as an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School, where she co-taught a seminar on poverty law.
Before joining Bet Tzedek, from 2000 to 2002, the judge worked as a senior associate at Milberg, Weiss, Bershad Hynes & Lerach where her practice focused on consumer and civil rights class actions involving unfair business practices.
From 1995 to 1999, Court worked as an associate at Litt & Márquez where she concentrated on multi-plaintiff and class action employment and housing cases. From 1994 to 1995, she worked for the ACLU of Southern California as a project attorney on a team representing individual and organizational plaintiffs in Native American burial site and workplace disputes.
Court received her undergraduate degree from Pomona College in 1988 and her law degree from Loyola Law School five years later.
The Central District of California is composed of the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. It serves more than 19.3 million people, nearly half the population of California.