Palo Alto judge appointed to appeals court

Allison Danner
Allison Danner

By the Daily Post staff

Allison Danner of Palo Alto, currently a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge, today (June 1) was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to become an associate justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal. The job pays $228,918 a year.

Danner, 47, has been a Superior Court judge since 2012. She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California from 2007 to 2012, taking a leave to serve as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2009 to 2010.

Danner was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and the UCLA School of Law in 2006 and a professor at Vanderbilt Law School from 2001 to 2007.

She served as a law clerk for the Honorable John Paul Stevens at the U.S. Supreme Court from 1998 to 1999 and as a law clerk for the Justice John T. Noonan Jr. at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, from 1997 to 1998.

Danner earned her law degree from Stanford Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Williams College.

On the appeals court, she fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Mary J. Greenwood to presiding justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal.

This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Presiding Justice Mary J. Greenwood. Danner is a Democrat.