The Hon. Hernaldo J. Baltodano is a judge for the Superior Court of San Luis Obispo County in California. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Jerry Brown on November 2, 2017, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Michael L. Duffy.
Baltodano earned a B.A. in sociology from the University of California, Davis in 1999. He then completed a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2002.
He began his legal career as an associate at a variety of different law firms, including Hadsell and Stormer, the Law Office of David A. Mallen, and Holguin and Garfield. Then, in 2006, he joined Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi. He transitioned into the role of senior associate, a position he would keep as he moved to Anderson, McPharlin and Conners and Sanchez and Amador in 2010.
Baltodano relocated to San Luis Obispo in 2011. At that time, he co-founded Baltonado and Baltonado with his wife, Erica Flores Baltodano. Together, they handled complex civil cases on behalf of hotel, restaurant, and agricultural workers as well as nurses and mid-level executives. They helped these clients on a contingency basis, handling wage theft, discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination matters. The firm is a recipient of the Access to Justice Advocate Award from the San Luis Obispo Legal Assistance Foundation.
He was named Volunteer of the Year by the Children’s Rights Project in 2009. That same year, he was also named Advocate of the Year by Public Counsel for his pro bono work on behalf of special needs children.
He is registered as a Democrat.