The Hon. Dennis M. Cota is a magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. He was appointed to the bench on September 3, 2018.
Cota earned a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1983. He then completed a J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 1986.
Prior to his appointment to the bench, Cota was a partner at Cota Cole LLP, a firm he founded in 2007. Before that, he was a managing partner at Best Best & Krieger LLP. Over the course of his legal career, he specialized in civil rights, municipal defense, and environmental and hazardous waste matters. He has also handled real estate, contract, labor, and business litigation issues.
Cota has taught trial practice at the University of California, Davis School of Law as well as civil procedure and evidence at the University of California, Riverside Extension Program.