By The Vanguard Staff
SACRAMENTO, CA – Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shama Hakim Mesiwala—a UC Davis Law School graduate and current adjunct professor of Appellate Advocacy at the UC Davis Law School—has been nominated by Gov. Gavin Newsom to serve as an Associate Justice of the Third District Court of Appeal.
Judge Mesiwala, cofounder of the South Asian Bar Association of Sacramento and the first South Asian American appointed to a judgeship in Sacramento County, will become the first South Asian American female and Muslim American female on any appellate court in California, if confirmed.
The judge, 48, was a Judicial Attorney at the Third District Court of Appeal from 2004 to 2017, working as senior judicial attorney for Justice Ronald B. Robie from 2006 to 2017 and as a Central Staff Attorney from 2004 to 2006.
The nomination statement noted Judge Mesiwala served as a staff attorney at the Central California Appellate Program from 1999 to 2004 and as an attorney at the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Eastern District of California in 1999.
Judge Mesiwala began her judicial career as a court commissioner in 2017 and late in 2017 was named as Sacramento Superior Court judge by former Gov. Jerry Brown.
The court said the nominee has presided over a variety of civil and criminal cases as well as mental health matters, dependency and delinquency proceedings and drug court.
“I have been honored to be part of a trial court that strives every day to deliver effective and prompt justice to all who come before it,” Judge Mesiwala said.
“For more than five years, the Sacramento County bench has benefitted from Judge Mesiwala’s unwavering service to justice – work which she will now carry over to the appellate court,” Presiding Court Judge Michael G. Bowman said.
Mesiwala was also the Americans with Disabilities judge for the Sacramento County Superior Court Hall of Justice and created the first Indian Child Welfare Act Courtroom in Northern California.
“Judge Mesiwala also ran the Court’s student externship program — designed to expose young people to the diverse and complex departments of a busy trial court, including criminal, civil, juvenile and family cases,” the nomination announcement stated.
Judge Mesiwala’s nomination—filling a vacancy created when Justice Coleman Biease retired—requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which currently consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Rob Bonta and Senior Presiding Justice Robie. 
