Gov. Appoints Palo Alto Woman District Court Of Appeals Justice

PALO ALTO, CA — California Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed a Palo Alto woman to serve as associate justice of the state's Sixth District Court of Appeal. The appointment of Allison M. Danner, 47, of Palo Alto, was announced Friday by the governor's press office.

Danner has served as a judge at the Santa Clara County Superior Court since 2012. She served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California from 2007 to 2012, taking a leave to serve as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2009 to 2010.

Danner was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 2006 and a professor at Vanderbilt Law School from 2001 to 2007. She served as a law clerk for the Honorable John Paul Stevens at the U.S. Supreme Court from 1998 to 1999 and as a law clerk for the Honorable John T. Noonan, Jr. at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 1997 to 1998.

Danner earned a juris doctor degree from Stanford Law School and a bachelor of arts degree from Williams College.

A Democrat, Danner fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Mary J. Greenwood to presiding justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal.

Her compensation for the position, which required confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, is $228,918.

Photo courtesy Governor's press office