Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias Joins Judicial Council

Thursday, January 19, 2012

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Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias Joins Judicial Council

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye yesterday named Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias to the Judicial Council of California.

Elias fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Burt Pines, for a term ending next September.

She is the supervising judge of the Complex Civil Litigation Panel, and joined the court in 1989 as a commissioner. Elias was appointed as a judge in 2000 by then-Gov. Gray Davis, and was considered for appointment to the Court of Appeal by Arnold Schwarzenegger during his tenure as governor.

The jurist has been active in state court administration, having served on the Judicial Council’s CJER Governing Committee from 2002 to 2008 and as a member of the Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee for the past four years.

Elias has also served as a faculty member for numerous judicial education programs, including the B.E. Witkin Judicial College and the New Judge Orientation. She has been part of the superior court’s Judicial Education Program since 2005, and served as chair in 2010.

She is a former member of the executive boards of the California Judges Association, which she served as secretary-treasurer in 2002-2003; the Los Angeles Chapter of the Association of Business Trial Advocates; and the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Litigation Section.

Elias previously served as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School as well.

In 2002, she received the Trial Judge of the Year Award from the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles. Last year, the American Board of Trial Advocates honored her with the William J. Rea Jurist of the Year Award.

Elias graduated from UC Berkeley before attending law school at USC, where she served as an associate editor of the Southern California Law Review.

She joined the State Bar in 1971.

Chaired by Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye, the Judicial Council comprises 14 judicial members, four attorney members appointed by the State Bar Board of Governors, one member from each house of the Legislature, and 10 advisory members.