Candidate for
Justice, California State Court of Appeal; District 3

M. Kathleen Butz, Associate Justice

Justice Butz was born in Auburn, California in 1950. She spent her junior year of high school as an American Field Service (AFS) International exchange student to Brazil. She graduated from Placer Union High School in Auburn in June 1968. Following graduation, she attended UC Davis, where she obtained her B.A. degree in 1972.

After working for several years in the UC Davis School of Engineering and Shields Library, she attended King Hall School of Law at UC Davis. She obtained her J.D. from that school in 1981. She was admitted to the California Bar on June 10, 1982.

Justice Butz was in private practice in Nevada City, California, from 1982 to 1996. On November 5, 1996, she was elected to the Nevada County Superior Court. She was reelected to a second term in 2002. She served as presiding judge of the Nevada County Superior Court in 2001-2002, presiding judge of the Family & Juvenile Court for Nevada County in 2003, and supervising judge of the Nevada County Civil Grand Jury from 1997 to 1999. As a trial judge, she presided over civil, criminal, probate, family, and juvenile delinquency and dependency cases.

In October 2003, Justice Butz was elevated to associate justice in the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, by Governor Gray Davis. In 2006, voters of the Third Appellate District retained her as an associate justice. In her seven years on the appellate court, she has authored over 850 majority opinions and has participated in 1,700 opinions. She has served as a justice pro tem on the California Supreme Court.

Justice Butz has served as an instructor of judicial education for the California Center for Judicial Education and Research (CJER) and the B. E. Witkin Judicial College of California (1998-2003). She chaired CJER's Rural Courts Education Committee (2003-2004) and currently serves as a member of the Appellate Practice Curriculum Committee (2010-2012) and the Appellate Justices Institute Workgroup. In December 2007, she was appointed to a three-year term on the Judicial Council's Appellate Indigent Defense Oversight Advisory Committee.

Justice Butz is a member of the California Judges Association and the Schwartz/Levi American Inn of Court, an organization promoting civility, ethics, and professionalism in the legal profession.

Married to Leonard Berardi, with children and grandchildren, Justice Butz is an avid reader, enjoys travel, and spends her leisure time with family and friends.