Mark K. Hanasono

Mark Hanasono is an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Three.  In May 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom nominated him for the Court of Appeal.   In June 2025, the Commission on Judicial Appointments unanimously confirmed Justice Hanasono, after receiving an “exceptionally well qualified” rating from the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission.

Justice Hanasono received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, graduating summa cum laude with membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.  He received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

After graduating from law school, Justice Hanasono worked as a judicial law clerk in the District of Columbia Superior Court.  From 2000 to 2004, he was an attorney for the Office of the Los Angeles County Public Defender, representing indigent adult and juvenile clients.  In 2004, Justice Hanasono transferred to the Office of the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender, where he represented indigent clients in all felony cases, including capital murder.  He also served as a Team Leader, supervising a team of felony attorneys assigned to the Central District.

In 2013, Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. appointed Justice Hanasono to the Los Angeles Superior Court, where he served in the Criminal Division for nearly twelve years.  From 2018 to 2019, Justice Hanasono was the Assistant Supervising Judge of the Criminal Division, Limited Jurisdiction Courts.  From 2020 to 2022, he was the Assistant Supervising Judge of the Criminal Division. 

Justice Hanasono has taught as a lecturer in law at UCLA School of Law.  He has served on the faculty of the Center for Judicial Education and Research and the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Judicial Education Seminars program and presented for the University of California’s Continuing Education of the Bar.  Justice Hanasono has published articles in the UC Law Constitutional Law Quarterly, the State Bar’s Criminal Law Journal, and Berkeley Law’s Asian American Law Journal.