2018 WLAC President Bentrish Satarzadeh was appointed to serve as an Alameda County Superior Court Commissioner and embarked upon her new duties this week.

Commissioner Satarzadeh received her J.D. with high honors from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California, in 2002. She earned a B.A. with high honors in Political Science from San Jose State University in 1999.  Prior to her appointment, she was an experienced research attorney with the Alameda County Superior Court, handling a rare hybrid civil and criminal assignment.

For two years, she has served as a Judge Pro Tem in small claims, traffic, domestic violence, family and other civil matters. For the past five years, she has served on the Board for the Center for Judicial Education and Research with the Judicial Council of California where she was responsible for curricula development and teaching judges and research attorneys and plans to continue that service.

Prior to the Court, Commissioner Satarzadeh was a trial attorney at the Cartwright Law Firm in San Francisco.  In addition to Women Lawyers of Alameda County, she is a member of the Alameda County Bar Association and Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom. She was a Co-Chair of the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, the first registered LGBT Democratic Club in the nation, which is responsible for making a profound impact local and national politics in the advancement of LGBT rights.  She also served as an Affiliate Governor of the California Women Lawyers Board of Governors.