CAALA VEGAS 2019

Hon. Michael Linfield
Judge
Los Angeles Superior Court


Hon. Michael Linfield grew up in Los Angeles, receiving a B.A. cum laude in philosophy from UCLA in 1972. The following year, while working on a M.S. degree in Engineering Systems, he earned a Teaching Credential in Math, Philosophy, French and Hebrew and began teaching in the L.A. Unified School District. In 1976, Michael volunteered to work for $5/week with Cesar Chavez’ United Farm Workers Union and was asked by Cesar to establish the UFW’s legislative office in Sacramento. In the early 1980’s, Michael worked as the special liaison to Governor Brown on pension investment issues and later served as Deputy to the Mayor of the newly-incorporated city of West Hollywood. In 1986, Michael was accepted at Harvard Law School, where he was awarded a Ferguson Fellowship to study Human Rights in Nicaragua. In both 1987 and 1988, Michael served as intern to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nicaragua. In 1989, he graduated Harvard magna cum laude. While a law student at Harvard, Michael wrote Freedom Under Fire: U.S. Civil Liberties in Times of War, the first complete study of wartime violations of civil liberties in the United States. After graduating Harvard Law School, Michael worked at a Century City law firm, representing corporations in complex financial litigation. In 1992, he established his own law practice, representing plaintiffs in discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and consumer fraud cases. He briefed and argued some 80 cases before the California Supreme Court, the California Court of Appeal, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. On November 7, 2003, Michael was appointed judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court by Gov. Gray Davis. Since 2011, he has presided over an I/C general civil assignment at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. He was the first judge in Los Angeles County to hold an expedited jury trial; in 2015, he was the first judge in California to give all jurors iPads to use for viewing exhibits during trial.

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