LaDoris Hazzard Cordell was born on November 19,1949 and is an American retired judge of the Superior Court of California, and a retired Independent Police Auditor for the city of San Jose, California.
13 Facts About LaDoris Cordell
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LaDoris Cordell was the first female African American judge in Northern California, and the first African American Superior Court judge in Santa Clara County, California.
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LaDoris Cordell graduated from Stanford Law School in 1974 with a juris doctor.
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In 1975, LaDoris 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.
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In 1990, LaDoris Cordell founded the African American Donor Task Force to increase Black participation in the national bone marrow registry.
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From 2001 to 2009, LaDoris 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.
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In 2014, LaDoris Cordell co-founded the African American Composer Initiative ; an organization whose mission is to bring the music of these past and present composers to the world through live concerts, and online recordings.
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In 2015, LaDoris Cordell was a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Transparency, Accountability, and Fairness in Law Enforcement.
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Also in 2015, LaDoris Cordell was the Chairwoman of the 26-member Blue Ribbon Commission on Improving Custody Operations.
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In 2018, LaDoris Cordell led the opposition to the voter recall campaign of fellow Stanford Law School graduate, and Santa Clara County Judge, Aaron Persky.
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Also in 2020, LaDoris Cordell was appointed to the San Francisco District Attorney's Innocence Commission; a panel of five experts volunteering their time to evaluate cases where an incarcerated person asserts that they were wrongfully convicted.
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LaDoris Cordell is a frequent legal commentator for news outlets including CNN, MSNBC, and NPR.
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LaDoris Cordell 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.