Audra M. MoriIncumbent

Candidate for Court of Appeal Justice, California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division 4, Seat 2

Audra M. Mori is an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal. She sits on the Second Appellate District, Division 4, in Los Angeles. She earned a B.A. from UCLA in 1989. She earned a J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1992. She began her career as an associate. She worked at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, from 1992 to 1994. She then clerked for Judge Richard W. Goldberg. Goldberg sat on the U.S. Court of International Trade. She spent more than a decade at Perkins Coie LLP. She became a partner there in 2005. She practiced copyright, trademark, and general commercial litigation. In 2017 she was named managing partner of the firm's L.A. office. She is reported to be the first woman of color in that role, at any of the firm's offices. She served as president of the Japanese American Bar Association. She also served as a regional governor. That was for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Governor Jerry Brown appointed her to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. That was in 2018. There she chaired the court's Judicial Mentor Program. Governor Gavin Newsom nominated her to the Court of Appeal. That was on January 31, 2023, filling Justice Thomas Willhite's vacancy. The Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed her. She took her oath on April 17, 2023. She was appointed mid-term. So she appears on the November 3, 2026 ballot. It is a nonpartisan yes/no retention vote, with no opposing candidate, for voters in the Second Appellate District.

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