Gordon BurnsIncumbent

Candidate for Court of Appeal Justice, California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division 5, Seat 4

Gordon B. Burns is an Associate Justice of the California First District Court of Appeal, Division Five. That court is based in San Francisco. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from UCLA. He earned a J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law, now called UC College of the Law, San Francisco. He began his career as an associate at Downey, Brand, Seymour and Rohwer. He worked there from 1994 to 1997. He then spent most of his career at the California Department of Justice. He was a Deputy Attorney General in the Tort and Condemnation Section from 1997 to 1999. He then worked in the Land Law Section from 1999 to 2006. There he worked on natural-resources litigation. In 2004 he won a fellowship to study U.S. Supreme Court practice. The fellowship was with the National Association of Attorneys General. Starting in 2006, he served as the state's first Deputy Solicitor General for Civil Law. He supervised California's civil cases before the California Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. He practiced at Resources Law Group from 2010 to 2011. He then served as Undersecretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. He was appointed to that post in December 2011. Governor Jerry Brown appointed him to the Court of Appeal in December 2018. His current term expires in early January 2027. So he is on the November 3, 2026 ballot. Voters in the First Appellate District will decide, yes or no, whether to retain him.

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