Judge Michelle Williams Court was appointed to the Central District of California by President Joe Biden in 2024. She is the fifth Black woman to serve as a lifetime judge on the Central District.
Court was born in 1966 in Great Falls, Montana. She earned her undergraduate degree from Pomona College and her law degree from Loyola Law School. She worked at the ACLU of Southern California, then at a civil rights litigation firm, before serving as a Community Builder Fellow at HUD and later at Milberg Weiss on consumer class actions. She spent a decade at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in leadership roles including interim President and CEO. Governor Jerry Brown appointed her to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2012, where she rose to Supervising Judge of the Civil Division.
Education
- Loyola Law School, J.D., 1993
- Pomona College, B.A., 1988
Career
- Project attorney, ACLU of Southern California, 1994–1995
- Associate, Litt & Márquez, 1995–1999
- Community Builder Fellow, Civil Rights Specialist, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1999–2000
- Senior associate, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, 2000–2002
- Deputy Director and Director of Litigation; interim President and CEO; Vice President and General Counsel, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, 2002–2012
- Adjunct Professor, Loyola Law School, 2006
- Judge, Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, 2012–2024 (appointed by Governor Jerry Brown; Supervising Judge, Civil Division, 2023)
- U.S. District Judge, Central District of California, 2024–present