Event Details

Judge Bradford DeMeo joined the Sonoma County Superior Court in January 2011. From 1988 to his appointment to the Court, he practiced civil law and litigation. Judge DeMeo is a member of the Trial Practice Skills faculty at Stanford Law School and has taught Wills and Trusts and Law Practice Management at Empire College School of Law. He has more than 30 years teaching experience and was the founder and faculty advisor for the Empire Law Review. He has been a speaker at over 100 seminars and programs involving civil law, probate and family law topics. For 8 years he taught a 30-hour orientation course through CJER for judges at the Judicial Council. He has also taught courses to experienced judges at the CJER Probate and Mental Health Institute, as well as courses at the Cow Counties Judicial Conference for fellow judges. Judge DeMeo is a past Chair of the statewide CJER Probate and Mental Health Education Committee. Judge DeMeo was the Presiding Judge of the Sonoma County Superior Court in 2020 and 2021.

Superior Court Commissioner Ken English is a graduate of  The George Washington University Law School. He previously clerked for the Hon. Alan B. Johnson, judge for the Federal District Court for the District of Wyoming. During his clerkship, he worked on a wide variety of cases, including a challenge to the protection of gray wolves in Yellowstone Park. After his clerkship, Commissioner English practiced civil litigation, wine law, and criminal defense.  In 2011, Commissioner English joined the Sonoma County Superior Court as the supervising research attorney, later becoming the court’s managing attorney. As managing attorney, Commissioner English oversaw the court’s successful application for the Pretrial Release Pilot Grant. In January 2020, Commissioner English was appointed as a commissioner to the Sonoma County Superior Court, with primary duties related to the Pretrial Release Pilot Program and hearing a misdemeanor calendar. From September 2020 to September 2022, Commissioner English was both a Pretrial Release Pilot commissioner and its program manager. Presently Commissioner English hears unlawful detainers, civil harassment, and civil short cause calendars full time. Commissioner English has been selected  by the Judicial Council to educate judicial officers on the importance of pre-arraignment and pretrial release throughout the state.  He is also a graduate of the California Culinary Academy and is a University of California Certified California Naturalist and Climate Steward. Commissioner English is endorsed by more than three dozen current and retired judicial officers and a broad coalition of elected officials, law enforcement, and local attorneys.