Retired Judge LaDoris Cordell was in last year’s news a lot in the SF Bay Area due to a high-profile investigation she conducted. The situation was complicated—Sheriff Corpus, accused of misconduct, was the first Latina and first woman in her job. But Judge Cordell, having been in a similar “first” position earlier in her career, was the right woman for the job. LaDoris’s strong sense of legal fairness, honed during years of being a groundbreaking lawyer and judge in the Bay Area, and also her broad experience in the law gave her the perspective and skills to do an investigation that a fractious population would trust.
That investigation capped off a career that LaDoris explores in her “primoir”—a combination primer and memoir—written during the pandemic. Drawing on a box full of letters that she wrote to her parents as she moved through the local court system and onto the Superior Court of California as a rare Black female judge, LaDoris’s primoir both explores her own difficult path and also educates the reader on what the legal system is and, in her opinion, should be.
Join us in a wide-ranging conversation, from a segregated childhood, an unusual education, and an unlikely acceptance to Stanford Law School, to retired judge, community activist, musician, artist, and grandmother.
Related episodes:
- Minibabble: When We Open the Door
- Minibabble: #MeToo meets due process: Judge LaDoris Cordell
- Not Forgotten Anymore: The African American Composer Initiative
- Minibabble: The Chicago Connection: Black Composers of the Early
20th Century
Mentioned in this episode:
-  African American Composer Initiative
- Her Honor by LaDoris Hazzard Cordell [Bookshop.org]
- Ardmore, Philadelphia
- Judge Judy
- Black hair braiding
- Antioch College
- Stanford Law School
- Black Power Movement
- Jim Crow
- East Palo Alto African-American history
- Election of judges
- Millions of dollars are spent by corporations, businesses, lobbyists in  judicial elections
- League of Women Voters
- Governor Jerry Brown
- U.S. Supreme Court ethics rules
- Judicial Independence
- Aaron Persky
- Research about judge recalls and judicial integrity
- Judicial discretion
- Bias in sentencing
-  Racial Justice Act of California
-  San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus
- California Three Strikes Law
- LaDoris Cordell’s legal cartoons and artwork
-  Judith Jameson
A 1971 graduate of Antioch College and a 1974 graduate of Stanford Law School, LaDoris Hazzard Cordell was the first lawyer to open a private law practice in East Palo Alto. In 1978, she was appointed Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at Stanford Law School, where she implemented a successful minority admissions program. In 1982, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Ms. Cordell to the Municipal Court of Santa Clara County, making her the first African American woman judge in northern California. In 1988, Judge Cordell won election to the Superior Court of Santa Clara County. After 19 years on the bench, she retired and began employment at Stanford University as Vice Provost & Special Counselor to the President for Campus Relations until 2009. Judge Cordell was the Independent Police Auditor for the City of San Jose for five years (2010-2015), having been appointed to that position after a national search. Under her leadership, that office gained national prominence. She is a founding member of the African American Composer Initiative.
Music:
- Dance From A Deserted Plantation by William Grant Still, performed by the African American Composer Initiative, LaDoris Cordell and Jodi Gandolfi, piano.
- I’m Beginning to See the Light by Duke Ellington, performed by the African American Composer Initiative, LaDoris Cordell, vocals, and Valerie Capers, composer, piano, and voice.
- Billie’s Song, performed by the African American Composer Initiative, LaDoris Cordell, vocals, and Valerie Capers, composer and piano.