Paul Peek

Associate Justice, December 1942 - October 1961

Presiding Justice, October 1961 - December 1962

Born in West Union, Iowa, June 5, 1904, Paul Peek moved to California at age 6. He attended Oregon State University and the University of Oregon before obtaining his legal education at Southwestern University in Los Angeles. Peek was admitted to the California Bar in 1930, and practiced law in Long Beach and Los Angeles prior to his election in 1936 to the California Assembly, where he served as Speaker of the House during the 1939 session. He left the Assembly to become Secretary of State in 1940, and was appointed to the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, in December of 1942, where he served for 20 years. In 1962, Governor Pat Brown appointed Peek to the California Supreme Court. Justice Peek retired from the bench in 1966, but continued to work as a consulting attorney and teacher. He died in Sacramento April 7, 1987.