Candidate for
Judge of the Superior Court; County of Santa Clara; Office 16

Website: http://www.perskyforjudge.com

I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations and a Master's Degree in International Policy Studies. After graduation, I rode my bicycle from Palo Alto to Washington, D.C. to raise money for the Red Cross African Famine Relief Campaign.

In Washington I worked for the International Trade Administration of the United States Department of Commerce, where I investigated other countries' unfair trade practices. I returned to California to attend law school at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, where I was a member of the moot court board and also an assistant coach for the undergraduate men's lacrosse team.

After law school, I worked for the judges of the Superior Court of San Francisco for one year, researching civil and criminal legal issues. I then joined the law firm of Morrison & Foerster as a litigation associate, gaining substantial experience in civil cases. The firm sent me to Tokyo, Japan to work for a Japanese client for one year. I studied Japanese and later won a prestigious speech contest for non-native Japanese speakers, which was nationally televised in Japan.

A year after returning from Japan, I became a criminal prosecutor for the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, where I now prosecute sex crimes and hate crimes. I focus on the prosecution of sexually violent predators, working to keep the most dangerous sex offenders in custody in mental hospitals. I am also an Executive Committee member of the Santa Clara County Network for a Hate-Free Community, where I helped create a county-wide law enforcement policy on hate crimes. In addition, I serve as an Executive Committee Member of the Support Network for Battered Women.