Candidate for
Judge, Superior Court; County of Los Angeles; Office 4

Judge Ralph W. Dau has more than 40 years of legal experience. He has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge since 1995, when he was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson. Praised for his intellect, integrity, and thoroughness, Judge Dau has handled thousands of cases in his courtroom, typically managing a case load of more than 300.

Since 1997, Judge Dau has served in an unlimited civil trial department in the Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. In 1999, Judge Dau was assigned by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council to sit Pro Tem on the Court of Appeal. He previously served in civil long cause in the Central Civil West courthouse and in a felony trial department in the Criminal Courts Building. Numerous affirmances by the appellate courts attest to the quality of his decisions.

In support of continuing legal education, Judge Dau has taught employment litigation programs presented jointly by the California Judges Association and The Rutter Group.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Dau spent almost 30 years in trial and appellate practice with the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, where he specialized in complex litigation with a focus on environmental law, insurance and constitutional litigation. He became the first chair of the firm's environmental law practice group in 1991. Judge Dau organized and ran the firm's trial advocacy program from 1983 to 1991. He became a partner in 1974.

Judge Dau was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1966 and the California Bar in 1967. He received an LL.B. with Honors from The University of Texas School of Law in 1966, and was elected to Order of the Coif. He served on the board of editors of the Texas Law Review and was its Comment Editor in 1965-1966.

Through a Naval R.O.T.C. scholarship, Judge Dau earned a B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin in 1959. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy and later promoted to Lieutenant (junior grade). He served aboard a destroyer in the Pacific as weapons officer until 1963 and saw duty off the coast of the Republic of China during the period when an invasion of Taiwan was threatened and with the first U.S. task force to patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin at the outset of the Vietnam War.

Judge Dau and his wife Marilyn live in the San Gabriel Valley. They have two grown children and one grandson.