2000-05-12

PRESS RELEASE
May 12, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Judge Joseph Carson retires from the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda.

Judge Joseph J. Carson of the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, has announced his retirement, effective May 11, 2000, after nearly twenty-eight years of service in criminal and civil departments. His career includes judicial service in a municipal and superior court and election to the office of Presiding Judge in both courts.

Judge Carson is currently assigned to a civil trial and case management department in the Administration Building in Oakland. He was first appointed by Governor Ronald Reagan, to the former Municipal Court, San Leandro-Hayward Judicial District, Alameda County, in June 1972, where he served until April 1984. While a Judge in the municipal court, he was elected by his colleagues to serve as Presiding Judge in 1975 and 1982.

In 1984, Judge Carson was elevated to the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda and was appointed by Governor George Deukmejian to serve as a Superior Court judge succeeding retired Judge Robert H. Kroninger. Judge Carson held a variety of assignments and was elected Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda in 1992 and 1993.

Prior to his judicial career, Judge Joseph Carson was a Deputy District Attorney for Alameda County between 1966 and 1972 where he was assigned as a felony trial deputy.

He graduated from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in 1965 and received a BA in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco in 1962. Judge Carson worked his way through high school, college, and law school performing a wide assortment of jobs including maintenance and custodial services at the City of San Leandro, service worker at the Post Office during the holiday season, and as a paper carrier for the Oakland Tribune. Presiding Judge McKinstry says “that this retirement is the culmination of a distinguished career in public service from janitor to prosecutor to Municipal Court Judge to Superior Court Judge. He is an outstanding jurist with a unique ability to settle complex cases and resolve contentious issues.”

Judge Carson is a member of the California Judges Association, and the Alameda County Bar Association. He was named Judge of the Year in 1990 by the Alameda-Contra Costa County Trial Lawyers Association, and Judge of the Year in 1986 by the Southern Alameda County Bar Association. He was awarded the Above and Beyond Award in 1993 by the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association, and Judge of the year in 1994 by the Alameda County Lawyers Club. Judge Carson as a teacher and lecturer has humored, entertained, and delighted, those he taught in judicial seminars. He was on the faculty at the California Judicial College (CJER), in Berkeley, in 1982 and 1978. He was an instructor in Criminal Law at Chabot College in Hayward from 1970-71.

A long time resident of Alameda County, Judge Carson and his wife Antoinette, reside in San Leandro and have two grown sons.

The contact for this information release is Barbara J. Fox, Chief Assistant Executive Officer, Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, (510) 272-6504.