LaDoris Cordell

Cordell received her bachelor's degree from Antioch College in 1971, and her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1974.[1]

In 1975, Cordell was the first person in the Western United States to serve as the Earl Warren Intern at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. From 1976 to 1982, she practiced as a private attorney in East Palo Alto, specializing in criminal defense law, personal injury law, family law, and federal civil rights law. From 1978 to 1982, she was assistant dean for Student Affairs at Stanford Law School.

In 1982, California governor Edmund Gerald “Jerry” Brown, Jr. appointed Cordell to be a municipal court judge for the County of Santa Clara; she was the first California judge to order breath devices installed into the cars of drivers convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol, and was presiding judge from 1985 to 1986.

In 1988, she was elected to become a superior court judge for the County of Santa Clara, where she served as supervising judge for the probate court from 1994 to 1995; supervising judge of the family court from 1990 to 1992, and presiding judge of the superior court appellate department in 1993.

In 1990, Cordell founded the African American Donor Task Force to increase Black participation in the national bone marrow registry.

From 2001 to 2009, Cordell served as Stanford University's vice provost and special counselor to the president for campus relations, where she supervised the Office for Campus Relations. In a campaign in which she refused monetary contributions, she was elected to the Palo Alto City Council in 2004, where she served until 2008. From 2010 to 2015, she served as Independent Police Auditor for the City of San Jose, CA.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

In 2014, Cordell co-founded the African American Composer Initiative (AACI);[7] an organization whose mission is to bring the music of these past and present composers to the world through live concerts, and online recordings.[8][9]

In 2015, Cordell was a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Transparency, Accountability, and Fairness in Law Enforcement.[10] In the wake of revelations that 14 San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) officers had exchanged numerous racist, and homophobic text messages, the Panel was established as an advisory body to San Francisco’s District Attorney.[11] Composed of three retired judges from outside the city, the panel issued a final report including 81 Recommendations to Evaluate the SFPD, which was accepted by the City and County of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors.[12][13][14][15]

Also in 2015, Cordell was the Chairwoman of the 26-member Blue Ribbon Commission on Improving Custody Operations.[16] The Commission was established after 3 correctional guards allegedly beat to death mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree in San Jose's jail.[17] The Commission's final report included 101 Recommendations to Protect Inmates' Rights,[18] and was accepted by Santa Clara County's Board of Supervisors.[19][20][21]

In 2018, Cordell led the opposition to a petition to recall fellow Stanford graduate and Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky, after Persky's sentencing of Brock Turner to six months in county jail for three counts of sexual assault sparked a public backlash.[22] Persky was successfully recalled later that year.[23][24]

In the aftermath of a racially charged incident involving a Black female Santa Clara University professor, and campus police officers in August 2020,[25] Cordell conducted an audit of the university's Public Safety Services Department (PSSD).[26] While she did not participate in the investigation, Cordell urged the university to implement her 22 recommendations “as quickly as possible.” [27]

Also in 2020, Cordell was appointed to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Innocence Commission;[28] a panel of six experts volunteering their time to evaluate cases where an incarcerated person asserts that they were wrongfully convicted.[29]

From 1969 to December 17, 2020, non-residents faced jail time or fines up to $1,000 for visiting the City of Palo Alto’s Foothills Park. Represented by the ACLU of Northern California, Cordell was a plaintiff in the successful lawsuit to lift the residents-only restriction.[30][31]

Upon publication of her book, Her Honor: My Life on the Bench...What Works, What's Broken, and How to Change It in 2021, Cordell was interviewed as the guest on the KQED radio program Forum, and discussed a number of the problems she considered to be present in the legal system.[32] She described her book as a “primoir”; a combination of a primer and a memoir.[33]

In 2022, Cordell was featured in The Recall: Reframed;[34] a short documentary by Rebecca Richman Cohen[35] that takes issue with the “Recall Persky” campaign.[36]

Proceeds from the sale of Cordell's artwork, and legal cartoon calendars have generated thousands of dollars for the Support Network for Battered Women; Legal Advocates for Children & Youth (LACY), and the East Palo Alto Mural Art Project.[2]

Cordell is a frequent legal commentator for news outlets including CNN, MSNBC, and NPR.[37] She is quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times; is a Commonwealth Club of California moderator, and appeared as the presiding judge on an unscripted, prime-time court show on FOX; You the Jury.

Cordell has received 43 awards and honors, including: [38]

• the Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award from the ACLU of Northern California;
• the Crystal Gavel Award from the California Association of Black Lawyers’ Judicial Section;
• induction into Stanford University’s Multicultural Hall of Fame, and
• the Silicon Valley Black Legends Hall of Fame, (Law & Justice Award).