Amy Pellman
USC Gould School of Law

Amy M. Pellman, is a Superior Court judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court. She was elected a commissioner in 2005 and appointed judge in 2008. She currently sits in a family law assignment.

Judge Pellman has spent the majority of time on the bench in family law assignments with a five-year hiatus at the Edelman’s Children’s Court with a specialized calendar that included dependency, ICWA, adoption and contested terminations for private adoption cases, surrogacy and emancipation. She continues to serve as the only Los Angeles Superior Judge for surrogacy cases.

She has recently been honored by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers as the Southern California Chapter’s Distinguished Jurist of the Year for 2019. Judge Pellman is a nationally recognized advocate for children’s rights and received the prestigious Child Advocacy Law Award in 2003 from the American Bar Association in recognition of her outstanding work and achievement on behalf of children.

Judge Pellman has numerous publications on issues related to children, ranging from a training manual for new judges and lawyers to law review articles. She is also a regular contributor to a treatise on juvenile dependency law, California Juvenile Dependency Practice, published by the CEB (California Educational Bar), which covers the nuts and bolts of dependency law practice in California.

Judge Pellman is also a featured speaker at numerous conferences and law schools, and is currently teaching classes at University of Southern California Gould School of Law and at Southwestern Law School. This year, she was honored by Southwestern Law School for her work on behalf of children as 2019 Judge of the Year along with two other judges; and received the Adjunct Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005.

Judge Pellman was also honored by LevittQuinn Family Law Center in 2019 with its Outstanding Community Service Award.

Prior to joining the bench, Judge Pellman served as the legal director for The Alliance for Children’s Rights, a non-profit legal organization devoted to providing free legal services to children living in poverty. While at The Alliance, she oversaw legal services, directing litigation and individual legal services for children in foster care, children requiring medical assistance, and children with physical, mental and educational disabilities. Before joining The Alliance, Judge Pellman spent seven years at Dependency Court Legal Services serving as senior trial attorney and appellate counsel representing children in foster care.

Judge Pellman also practiced civil litigation for three years, and served as a federal clerk for the Second Circuit of New York. She holds a JD from City University of New York Law School and a BA in Political Science from Mount Holyoke College. She was admitted to both the California and New York bars, and serves on numerous state and local judicial committees.   

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Re: Franita Tolson

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