State of California Department of Justice

1300 I Street, Suite 125

P.O. Box 944255
Memorandum Sacramento, CA 94244-2550

To : Honorable Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, Chair Date: August 20, 2021

Commission on Judicial Appointments Telephone: (916) 210-7312
Chief Justice, Supreme Court of California Facsimile: (916) 324-5205
E-mail: [email protected]
Honorable Rob Bonta
Attorney General of California

Honorable Mary J. Greenwood

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District
From : Jon Allin
Supervising Deputy Attorney General
Correctional Law Section
Office of the Attorney General – Sacramento

Subject : Nomination of Cynthia C. Lie, to the Office of Associate Justice, Court of Appeal,
Sixth Appellate District

On July 9, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom nominated Judge Cynthia C. Lie to the office of
Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District. The hearing on this
nomination before the Commission on Judicial Appointments is scheduled for August 30, 2021,
beginning at 10:00 a.m. and will take place virtually, to be broadcast publicly on the California
Supreme Court’s website. If confirmed, Judge Lie will fill the vacancy created by the retirement
of Justice Nathan D. Mihara.

This memorandum reviews Judge Lie’s qualifications to serve as an Associate Justice on the
Court of Appeal. It is based on information gathered in the attached materials as well as
information submitted by Judge Lie, media reports, and information provided during interviews
with judges and lawyers familiar with Judge Lie. 1 This information suggests that Judge Lie is
qualified to serve as an Associate Justice.

I. BACKGROUND AND QUALIFICATIONS

Cynthia C. Lie has served as a judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court since 2015 and
previously devoted most of her career providing indigent criminal defense at the trial and
appellate levels, in state and federal court.

Judge Lie was born in December 1967, in Ithaca, New York. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and
magna cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts
degree, majoring in comparative literature.

1
Deputy Attorneys General Dan Helfat, Laura E. Robbins, Chad A. Stegeman, and Stephen
Svetich assisted with this report. Senior Legal Analyst Maria Camacho conducted case research.
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Page 2

She obtained her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1995.
At Berkeley, she received three American Jurisprudence awards and a Prosser award,
participated in the Asian Law Journal, and volunteered at the East Bay Workers’ Rights Clinic.
During her tenure in law school, she worked at the Inner City Law Center in Los Angeles, the
Employment Law Center of the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco, and the San Diego County
Office of the Public Defender.

Judge Lie was admitted to the California State Bar in December 1995. She served as a Deputy
Public Defender in the San Diego County Public Defender’s Office from 1995 to 2000. She was
a litigation associate at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter and Hampton LLP in 2000, where she
represented corporate clients in civil and appellate matters. She then opened her own practice in
Oakland, from 2001 to 2003, representing indigent defendants in state capital and non-capital
direct appeals and habeas proceedings, and private clients in various criminal matters. From
2002 to 2003, she served as a staff attorney for the City and County of San Francisco Office of
Citizen Complaints, where she litigated police misconduct cases, advised agency management
regarding related civil litigation, and conducted periodic training in criminal law and procedure
for investigative staff.

For eleven years, from 2003 to 2014, Judge Lie served as an assistant federal public defender for
the Northern District of California in San Jose, representing indigent persons charged with
federal criminal offenses and petitioners in federal habeas proceedings. From January 2012 to
January 2015, she was the supervisor of the San Jose branch office.

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. appointed Judge Lie to the Santa Clara County Superior Court
in December 2014. In January 2016, Judge Lie volunteered for a three-year assignment in the
Family Division. From 2018 to 2019, she heard all proceedings under the Hague Convention on
the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Since January 2019, she has served in the
Civil Division.

Judge Lie has also served as one of four members of the Appellate Division since January 2017.
From January 2019 to January 2020, she served as the court’s Acting Presiding Judge. And in
January 2020, she became the Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division. In 2019, she also heard
all mental health matters under the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, including habeas petitions,
petitions to determine capacity to refuse psychotropic medication and electroconvulsive therapy,
and conservatorship petitions.

In addition to her judicial assignments, Judge Lie has been active in court management, serving
on committees focused on the court’s needs and responsibilities in various areas including data
collection and statistical analysis, budget and finance, and equity and justice. From its inception
in April 2017 through January 2020, Judge Lie chaired the court’s Language Access Committee.

In addition, Judge Lie participated in an ad hoc committee to improve the court’s assessment of
individuals for pretrial release. As a result of this work, the county has adopted a new risk
assessment model that is less dependent on unreliable proxy indicators for risks that are prone to
reinforce racial disparities.
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Page 3

II. JNE COMMISSION COMMENTS

The Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE) conducted its evaluation of Judge Lie,
finding her Exceptionally Well Qualified to serve as an Associate Justice. This means the JNE
Commission determined that Judge Lie “possesses qualities and attributes of remarkable or
extraordinary superiority that enable her to perform the appellate judicial function with
distinction.”

The JNE Commission found, in relevant part:

Judge Lie is a brilliant and dedicated jurist. In six years on the

superior court, including four in the Appellate Division, she has
demonstrated and is praised for an unflagging work ethic,
collegiality, and abiding respect for the importance and limits of
appellate review. Judge Lie has also demonstrated a commitment
to mitigating barriers to equal justice, which benefits the larger
community served by the Court of Appeal.

III. COMMISSION ON JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE COMMENTS

The confidential and privileged letter, dated July 14, 2021, from the Commission on Judicial
Performance is provided in this report to the members of the Commission on Judicial
Appointments. 2

IV. SUMMARY OF PERSONAL CONTACTS

Three judges and six attorneys were contacted on a confidential basis and asked about Judge
Lie’s abilities, character, demeanor, and performance as a judge and her readiness to become an
Associate Justice. The comments from each were received on a confidential basis; each was
advised that the information received would be disclosed, without attribution, to the commission
members, to the public, and to Judge Lie.

Contact No. 1:

The contact is a retired judge who has known Judge Lie since 2015. He was her colleague on the
Superior Court for about five years, and they have remained friends. The contact states that
Judge Lie has a very calm judicial temperament. Among her colleagues, she is viewed as one of
the smartest people on the bench—she was “smarter than anyone else I worked with there.”
Judge Lie’s greatest strengths are her incredible judgment, her work ethic, and a breadth of
knowledge of legal issues and social and historical material. The contact feels that Judge Lie’s
demeanor is well suited for the Court of Appeal.

2
The privileged and confidential nature of the letter requires that it not appear in the version of
this report released to the public. Treatment of the letter in this manner does not suggest that the
letter contains information adverse to Judge Lie.
August 20, 2021
Page 4

Contact No. 2:

The contact is a Judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court. She has known Judge Lie
since 2015 when Judge Lie joined the bench. The contact describes Judge Lie’s competence as
outstanding. “She is the best we have.” The contact praises Judge Lie’s writing and
communication skills, and identifies her strengths as her intellect and work ethic. She notes that
Judge Lie’s reputation among her colleagues is exceptional and predicts that she will be a
“stellar” justice.

Contact No. 3:

The contact is a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge who has known Judge Lie since 2018.
He states that Judge Lie is an excellent trial judge. She is always well prepared and has good
control over her courtroom. Her demeanor is calming to litigants appearing before her, and she
always allows parties to be heard. The contact describes Judge Lie as extremely smart with
superior writing skills. She is a colleague others can trust, and she can quickly grasp difficult
legal and factual issues. The contact states that Judge Lie has an excellent reputation as a
jurist—there is no one with better ethics and honesty. The contact predicts that Judge Lie will be
incredibly successful as an appellate justice and leave a long and impactful legacy in the Sixth
District and on California law.

Contact No. 4:

The contact is a private criminal defense attorney who worked with Judge Lie when she was an
Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Northern District of California. He has known Judge
Lie since approximately 2003. He describes Judge Lie as a “brilliant attorney” with a real
passion for the law. She exhibits excellent legal writing skills and communicates effectively and
candidly. She is patient with others and understands that litigants come from different
backgrounds. The contact describes Judge Lie’s work ethic as “unparalleled” and states that she
has a real professionalism and deep commitment to her work. Judge Lie has a great intellectual
capacity and interest in the law. She treats all people with respect, and the contact predicts Judge
Lie will make a “magnificent” justice.

Contact No. 5:

The contact is a private practitioner with six years of experience as an attorney, focusing on
criminal law and civil rights litigation. He has appeared in Judge Lie’s courtroom often on
misdemeanor matters and rates Judge Lie as “outstanding in everything.” The contact remarks
that Judge Lie is “the most intelligent judge” he has appeared before. She has a “great
understanding of the law,” and her analytical skills are “awesome.” Her legal writing is
“outstanding, excellent”; her questions to counsel are right on point; and she is “very decisive
and confident in her well-reasoned decisions.” She is also very skillful at dispute resolution and
is an extremely hard worker.

Judge Lie has a great respect for the rule of law, and is “excellent, super fair, and cognizant of
her role as a judge.” She conducts her courtroom “wonderfully, and is great at it.” She is “very
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respectful” of counsel and litigants. She is “fair, even-keeled, with a great judicial demeanor,”
has a great reputation, and acts with integrity.

Overall, Judge Lie “is exactly the type of judge who should be on the appellate court”; she is
“super fair, brave, and smart”; she “does the right thing and gives people chances.” The contact
believes that Judge Lie “is going to be amazing and a great addition to the appellate court”; she
“absolutely should be there and will do a wonderful job.”

Contact No. 6:

The contact is a private attorney with forty-five years of experience handling criminal, civil
rights, and conservatorship matters. He knows Judge Lie by appearing in her courtroom since
Judge Lie was first appointed to the bench, including in trial, and describes her as
“extraordinarily impressive.” Her overall strengths are “intelligence, knowledge of the law, and
demeanor on the bench.” Judge Lie “asked incisive questions and then ruled correctly and
courageously.” She is “the brightest judge on the bench. . . . . You can see that she is thinking
all of the time.” The contact notes an instance in which Judge Lie insightfully raised an issue
that neither counsel had considered. She is also adept at dispute resolution. And in one matter,
Judge Lie was able to get experts for different sides to agree after listening to their testimony and
posing her own questions.

Judge Lie’s respect for the rule of law is “excellent, no question.” She “works extremely hard”;
“she reads each case cited very carefully” before any hearing; and she is decisive and confident
in her decisions. Her communication skills are “extremely effective, particularly when
speaking”; she has a “keen ability to communicate with counsel and clients, giving each client
their due regard”; she is “kind, gracious”; and her legal writing is “excellent.”

Judge Lie has “a terrific reputation and is 100% ethical”—she “does not cut corners.” The
contact states, “You will never find anyone better” to be an appellate justice. Judge Lie is “what
a judge should be.”

Contact No. 7:

The contact has been a Deputy Public Defender for nine years and was in private practice for
five years before that. He describes Judge Lie’s judicial approach as “careful and very
academic.” She “studies issues very carefully, and is a student of the law.” Her legal analysis is
“piercing,” and she is interested in getting to the heart of the matter. She is quite decisive and is
confident in her decisions.

The contact commends Judge Lie as very skillful in conducting her courtroom. She “wants there
to be open access to the courts,” and she “does a great job with all personality types.” She has a
“very professional rapport with counsel and litigants, and treats everyone equally.” She has a
reputation for “being very fair, very sympathetic to the challenges of litigants who come into
court” and has an incredible respect for the law. She “applies the law as written and intended.”
She “has a great way of explaining the law, and the basis of her decision,” making sure that the
litigants understand the basis of her ruling—she is “very empathetic in that regard.”
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Describing Judge Lie’s work ethic as “very diligent,” the contact recalls that Judge Lie and
counsel worked over the weekends during trials—she “will do what it takes to get the job done.”
The contact predicts that as an appellate justice, Judge Lie “will be looked up to, and she will
write excellent opinions that will serve the people.”

Contact No. 8:

The contact is a prosecutor who had a habeas matter before Judge Lie that lasted about a year in
2015 and 2016. The contact says that Judge Lie is very smart and has a reputation for being very
bright. She has excellent communication skills and is respectful of counsel. The contact thinks
Judge Lie will be an excellent appellate justice.

Contact No. 9:

The contact is an experienced criminal defense attorney in private practice. He appeared before
Judge Lie on a writ matter in 2015 and 2016. He says that her writing skills were fine, as were
her communication skills. Judge Lie was fair to both sides. The contact reports that Judge Lie
has a favorable demeanor and that his colleagues have a high opinion of her.