Los Angeles County (Pasadena)
Career Highlights: Sworn in as a Los Angeles county Superior court judge, Jan. 2, 1989, retired January 2025; elected June 1988; judge, Municipal Court for the Los Angeles Judicial District, 1982-89; assistant legal director, staff attorney, ACLU, 1977-82; staff attorney, Greater Watts Justice Center, 1973-77; directing attorney, staff attorney, Reginald Heber community law fellow, Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach, 1970-73; intern, U.S. State Department legal adviser's office, 1969
Law School: Columbia Law School
Career Highlights: Sworn in as a Los Angeles county Superior court judge, Jan. 2, 1989, retired January 2025; elected June 1988; judge, Municipal Court for the Los Angeles Judicial District, 1982-89; assistant legal director, staff attorney, ACLU, 1977-82; staff attorney, Greater Watts Justice Center, 1973-77; directing attorney, staff attorney, Reginald Heber community law fellow, Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach, 1970-73; intern, U.S. State Department legal adviser's office, 1969
Law School: Columbia Law School
PASADENA — Judge Terry Smerling was a civil rights lawyer taking jails to court over access to more exercise and reading materials in the 1970s. But now he has a new approach.
“Ironically, I use jail now as a tool,” he said. “I’m not the same person I was when I was a young man.”
Smerling hears felony arraignments at the Pasadena Courthouse and the early disposition calendar, where attor... (continued)
