Overview
The Hon. Alison M. Estrada is a judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court in California[1]. Estrada was elected to the bench on June 3, 2014[1].
On the bench, her assignments have included misdemeanor calendars and trials at the Metropolitan Courthouse[2]. By 2026, the Los Angeles Superior Court's judicial directory listed her in general felony matters at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center[3].
Educational background
Estrada earned a B.A. in psychology, cum laude, from the University of California, San Diego, in 1993[2]. At the University of San Diego School of Law, she completed a J.D. in 1996[2]. She was admitted to the State Bar of California (December 1996).
Career history
After graduating from law school, Estrada worked as a prosecutor in Sacramento before joining the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office[4]. During more than fifteen years there, her assignments included the Family Violence Division, the Pasadena Branch Office, service as a trial deputy in the Central Felony Trials Unit, and the Public Integrity Division[4]. In the Family Violence Division, she prosecuted spousal abuse and physical child abuse cases[4]. She handled between seventy and eighty-five felony jury trials, including special-circumstances murder cases[4]. In her final years as a prosecutor, Estrada handled criminal-misconduct matters involving elected and appointed officials[4].
Her professional memberships included the Japanese American Bar Association, where she served on the board and as president in 2011, and the National Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors Association, where she served as Southern California regional president[5]. She also served on the State Bar of California's Criminal Law Executive Committee[4]. In 2003, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys named her Deputy District Attorney of the Month for her prosecution of two consecutive murder trials[4]. She received the Victims of Crime Community Leadership Award in 2011[5].
Personal life
Estrada was born and raised in Indiana[5]. She has self-identified as Japanese American[5]. Her decision to pursue a legal career was influenced by her maternal grandparents' internment at an Arizona relocation center during World War II and by her parents' work as charter members of the Japanese American Citizens League in Indiana[5].
Outside the courtroom, she has said that she met her husband, Alfonso Estrada, when he was also a deputy district attorney[4]. She has listed golf among her interests.
Estrada is registered as a Republican[4].
References
[1] Ballotpedia Profile
[2] Daily Journal — Judicial Profile
[3] Los Angeles Superior Court — Judicial Directory
[4] Metropolitan News-Enterprise Profile
[5] Rafu Shimpo Profile
