Candidate for
Judge, Superior Court; County of Los Angeles; Office 95

Patricia Nieto for Superior Court Judge, Seat 95

Biography

I was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the second child of parents who were first generation Mexican Americans. My grandparents were all immigrants from Mexico who came to the United States seeking economic and educational opportunities. They had very limited education and their goal was to ensure that their children were able to receive the education that was not available to them in Mexico. My grandfathers worked their way through Texas, ending up in Missouri after finding work on the railroads and the stockyards.

Growing up during the depression and raised in one of the oldest Mexican communities in the United States, my parents were extremely poor. However, they were able to fulfill the dreams of their parents by graduating from high school.

I was raised in a lower middle class neighborhood. I completed high school and was ranked tenth in my graduating class, thereafter attending the University of Kansas and receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Linguistics. I had fulfilled the dreams of my parents.

I attended and graduated from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1977. Thereafter, I worked with a general litigation firm that handled civil, criminal, family, worker's compensation, labor and immigration cases.

I opened my law office as a solo practitioner in 1985 specializing in juvenile dependency and delinquency cases. In 2001, I became a part time bench officer in juvenile court and, in 2005, I was given a permanent assignment to preside over a juvenile delinquency court. We routinely heard 40-50 cases per day with cases involving serious felony charges. I handled detention hearings, pre trial hearings and motions, trials, disposition and fitness hearings. In July of 2007, I was selected as a Superior Court Commissioner and my current assignment is in family law in a general trial court.

I am confident that as a Superior Court Judge I will continue in my service to the Los Angeles Court. My experience and background as an attorney and as a bench officer has prepared me for this endeavor. And, most importantly, I believe that I will continue in my service to the community of Los Angeles which formed the foundation for this opportunity.