UC Law SF Alum Jessica Hawk ’11 Appointed as Alameda County Superior Court Judge 

Jessica Hawk ’11 brings over a decade of experience as a state and county public defender, law clerk and staff attorney for the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to her new role as Alameda County Superior Court Judge.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Jessica Hawk ’11 to serve as an Alameda County Superior Court Judge. She joins three other UC Law SF graduates recently tapped to fill judicial vacancies in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are among more than 500 living alumni called to serve on the benches of state and federal courts across the nation.

Hawk brings a wealth of experience, having served as a Senior Deputy State Public Defender since 2022 and a Deputy State Public Defender from 2019 to 2022. Her career has included stints as a Law Clerk at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2019 and Staff Attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2015 to 2019. Prior to that, she was an Associate Deputy Public Defender at the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office from 2011 to 2015. Hawk fills a seat left vacant by retiring Judge Paul Herbert.