The Contra Costa Superior Court is pleased to announce that Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed Amanda Karl as Judge of the Superior Court. She will take her oath on April 24, 2026, and will preside in Department 23.
Prior to her appointment, Judge Karl was a partner at Gibbs Mura LLP, litigating complex cases, including consumer, employment, sexual assault, voting, and securities cases. Judge Karl previously served on the Board of Directors of the East Bay Community Law Center, the largest provider of free legal services in the East Bay Area and Berkeley Law’s largest clinical offering. Judge Karl was named a Rising Star by both Law360 and, for several years, Northern California Super Lawyers. Dedicated to both teaching and mentorship, Judge Karl frequently spoke on emerging issues in class action litigation, and conceptualized and implemented Gibbs Mura’s new associate training programs. Before her litigation career, Judge Karl served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard A. Paez of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to the Honorable Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California.
Judge Karl is a 2014 graduate (Order of the Coif) of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she served as the Managing Editor of the California Law Review. She received her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, in Sociology and Human Rights from Columbia University in 2009.
Judge Karl is a is a Bay Area native who lives in Oakland with her husband and two children. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Charles B. Burch.
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