Century City Bar Association Newsletter

Former CCBA Board Member Christine Byrd appointed LA County Superior Court Judge

Christine ("Tina") Byrd, CCBA member and former member of the CCBA Board of Governors, was sworn in as judge to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. She was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Justice Nora Manella, of the Courts of Appeal, 2nd District, who officiated at the CCBA Installation of Officers and Directors in 2010, performed the swearing in ceremony for Judge Byrd on May 10, 2010. Her Honor is presently assigned to Family Court in San Fernando. Speaking at her swearing-in, Judge Byrd said that while some are surprised at some of the day-to-day, routine kind of matters heard in the courts, to her, even these routine matters manifest the strength of our American judicial system, underscoring the public's belief in that system, as opposed to violence and other "self help" efforts one sees in some other countries.

Byrd had been a litigation partner at Irell & Manella since 1996. In 2009, she was selected as one of California's "Top 100 Women Litigators" by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals. Byrd is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the College of Commercial Arbitrators, and served on the Editorial Board of the Quarterly Journal of the AIPLA (American Intellectual Property Law Association), and the Board of Directors of the Dispute Resolution Services. In both 2007 and 2008, she was named one of California's "Top 75 Women Litigators" by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals.

Byrd served the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Criminal Division as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1982 to 1987 and was a law clerk to the Honorable William P. Gray, U.S. District Court from 1975 to 1976. She earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.A. from Stanford University.

She has two children, Amy, a law student, and George, a high school student. Judge Byrd survives her late husband, retired architect and antique car enthusiast, Gary Byrd, who died in November 2008.

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