Thursday, July 9, 2026
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Presiding Justice Lee Smalley Edmon Retires
Court of Appeal for This District Also Announces Retirement of Justice Audrey Collins
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Court of Appeal for this district has announced the retirement of Presiding Justice Lee Edmon of Div. Three and Justice Audrey Collins of Div. Four, each of whom stepped down at the end of June after serving on the court for more than a decade.
Edmon was nominated for a seat on the court in 2014 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown and was unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, receiving an “exceptionally well qualified rating” from the Judicial Nominees Commission.
Before serving on the appellate court, Edmon spent 15 years as a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, having secured a seat in 2000 by way of appointment by then-Gov. Gray Davis. From 2011-12, she served as that court’s first female presiding judge.
Her judicial career was preceded by nearly 20 years of civil litigation experience, having worked for the downtown Los Angeles firm Adams, Duque & Hazeltine LLP from 1981-87 and for the now-defunct Dewey Ballantine LLP between 1987 and 2000.
Leadership Roles
Edmon has served in multiple leadership roles on the Judicial Council of California, including heading the body’s Litigation Management Committee, between 2009 and 2010, and Civil & Small Claims Advisory Committee, from 2006-08. The jurist was also active in the California Judges Association, where she served as a member of the Board of Directors from 2013-14.
A frequent honoree in the legal community, Edmon boasts awards from the Los Angeles County Bar Association (“LACBA”), the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (“WLALA”), California Women Lawyers, among others, and was selected as a 2019 Person of the Year by METNEWS.
In 2023, the graduate of University of Illinois College of Law received the Judicial Council’s Distinguished Service Award.
Tuesday’s announcement also highlights the retirement of Justice Audrey Collins, who had served on Div. Four since 2014. Prior to her tenure on the state appellate court, Collins had spent the previous two decades as a U.S. District Court judge for the Central District of California, having been nominated for that position in 1994 by then-President Bill Clinton. She served as that court’s chief judge from 2009-12.
Prior to her time on the bench, she worked for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for 16 years, starting in 1978, where she rose to prominence as the first African American woman to serve as a head deputy, assistant bureau director, and assistant district attorney. She was elected president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys in 1984.
A graduate of UCLA School of Law, Collins was selected as the school’s Distinguished Alumnae of the Year in 2018. She has also received awards recognizing her service on the bench from WLALA, LACBA, and California Women Lawyers, among others.
Other Service
An active member of LACBA, Collins served as chair of the body’s Criminal Justice Section and as a member of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee.
The Court of Appeal said in Tuesday’s announcement:
“Appointed within weeks of one another in 2014, Justice Edmon and Justice Collins built parallel legacies of service across Divisions Three and Four, each bringing decades of judicial and legal experience to the appellate bench. Their combined body of work, spanning trial and appellate courts, state and federal systems, has left a lasting mark on the administration of justice in Los Angeles and throughout California.
“The Second Appellate District thanks Presiding Justice Edmon and Justice Collins for their integrity, leadership, and service, and wishes them both well in retirement.”
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