Fil-Am wins as Superior Court judge in San Bernardino County

Michelle Lauron said she will put her commitment to justice and courtroom experience to work as a Superior Court judge. Image: Michelle Lauron campaign website

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – Filipino American deputy district attorney Michelle Lauron has won as judge of the Superior Court of San Bernardino County in the March 5 primary election, with 74.7 percent of the votes.

Lauron cleared the 50 percent threshold for a win, besting opponent Dieter Dammeier. As of Thursday, 100 percent of precincts have reported their results, according to the County Registrar.

Lauron said she will put her commitment to justice and courtroom experience to work as a Superior Court judge.

As a San Bernardino County deputy district attorney, Lauron has prosecuted murders, rapes, child sexual assaults, domestic violence, drug trafficking, violent crimes and welfare fraud.

Currently serving as a supervising deputy district attorney, Lauron manages over a dozen prosecutors. By mentoring new attorneys and law clerks, she has been instrumental in preparing the next generation of prosecutors for the District Attorney’s Office.

Lauron shares her judicial philosophy on her campaign website: “Judges must enforce laws as written, protect everyone’s Constitutional rights, appropriately punish the guilty, never silence the voices of victims and always free the innocent.”

Lauron earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from University of California, Irvine before acquiring her law degree from the University of California, Davis.

Lauron is also a highly respected educator, teaching at the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Academy for over 23 years. Michelle also served as a lecturer at the University of California, Irvine School of Social Sciences.

Widely recognized for her compassion and empathy, Lauron is deeply involved in her community and coaches local high school mock trial teams. Many of the high school students who participated in mock trial have continued on to law school and are now practicing attorneys and prosecutors within San Bernardino County.

Lauron and her husband Michael, also a career prosecutor, have been married for over 27 years. The couple has two adult children. They are active in their church, leading faith formation classes and involved in numerous marriage and youth ministries.

At an event supporting Lauron’s election campaign last month, Fil-Am community leader Naida Castro spoke passionately as a retired court administrator in the Superior Court of California as she introduced Lauron to the attendees.

Castro shared her excitement about seeing another Filipino American running as a judge, saying that there was only one Filipino judge on the bench during the time she worked at the court.