The Hon. Dennis J. Keough is a judge on the Superior Court of Orange County in California. He was appointed by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on December 29, 2009, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge James H. Poole.
Keough attended Santa Ana College, where he earned his A.A. in 1969. He transferred to California State University, Long Beach, receiving a B.A. in political science in 1971. Keough then completed his J.D. at the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1974.
After graduating from law school, Keough moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, working as an attorney in his own private practice until 1977. He spent the next three years serving as an associate county judge for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Nebraska. He then returned to California, joining the Office of the District Attorney in Santa Cruz. In 1986 he was appointed as a court referee for the Superior Court of California in Orange County, eventually becoming a commissioner for the Superior Court of California in 1989.
He is a founding member of the Celtic Bar Association as well as the Warren J. Ferguson Chapter of the American Inns of Court at Chapman University School of Law.
Keough was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the son of Irish immigrants. When he was sixteen years old, he moved with his family to Southern California.
Keough's wife is a former employee of the Office of County Counsel in Orange County. They own a citrus ranch near Fallbrook, California, which they spend their weekends tending. Keough is also interested in literature, geophysics, and cosmology.
He is registered to vote as a Republican.