Judith L. Haller, Associate Justice
Justice Haller was born in Los Angeles in 1946. She is married
and has two grown children.
She is a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UCLA and
received her law degree from California Western School of Law.
Justice Haller also has a master's degree in history from San Diego
State University.
Justice Haller was a deputy district attorney with the San Diego
County District Attorney's office for three years before entering
private practice. From 1979 until 1989, she practiced law with the
firm of Higgs, Fletcher & Mack. She was a partner in the firm's
litigation department when she was appointed to the bench.
On November 22, 1989, Governor Deukmejian appointed her to the
San Diego County Superior Court. During her four and one-half years
as a trial court judge, she spent two and one-half years as an
independent calendar judge and served as a member of the court's
executive committee. Governor Wilson nominated her to the Court of
Appeal in 1994, she was rated "exceptionally well qualified" for the
position, and she was unanimously confirmed by the Commission on
Judicial Appointments on August 9, 1994.
Justice Haller is a former Chair and Vice-Chair of the California
Judges Association Ethics Committee and a former director of the San
Diego Inn of Court and the San Diego Chapter of the American
Business Trial Lawyers Association. Prior to her judicial
appointment, she was a Vice-president of the San Diego County Bar
Association and served as secretary/treasurer of the San Diego
Defense Lawyers (an association of civil trial attorneys).
Currently, Justice Haller is a master of the American Inns of
Court, a director of the Board of Trustees of California Western
School of Law and a member of the San Diego County Bar Association
Ethics Committee. Recently, she served as the Chair of the Courts of
Appeal 100th Anniversary Centennial Committee and as a special
master for the Commission on Judicial Performance. Justice Haller is
a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs and a
guest lecturer at the University of San Diego School of Law.
Justice Haller is the 2003 judicial recipient of the Bernard E.
Witkin, Esq., Award which is presented annually for civic leadership
and excellence in the teaching, practice, enactment, or adjudication
of the law, presented by the Law Library Justice Foundation of San
Diego County. In 2004, Justice Haller was awarded the Joan Dempsey
Klein Distinguished Jurist Award by the California Women Lawyers for
her excellence as a jurist, commitment to gender equity and the
elimination of gender bias in the legal profession, and for her
service as a role model and an inspiration to women lawyers.
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