Harry F. Brauer

Harry F. Brauer is a retired Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District. He was appointed to the newly-created court by Governor Deukmejian on September 14, 1984 and was confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments on November 2, 1984. He was then confirmed by the electorate on November 4, 1986 and retired from the bench on June 30, 1989. Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeal, Justice Brauer served as a judge of the Superior Court of Santa Cruz County from January 2, 1973 to November 2, 1984. He was appointed to the position by Governor Reagan in December 1972, and was elected in 1974 and reelected in 1980. Before that, Justice Brauer served as a judge of the Municipal Court of Santa Cruz Judicial District from January 2, 1962 to January 2, 1973. He was appointed to that position by Governor Brown, Sr. in December 1961 and was elected in 1964 and reelected in 1970. Before taking on the role of a judge, Justice Brauer worked in private law practice from 1954 to 1962, specializing in commercial and appellate law. He was an associate, and then partner, at Wyckoff, Parker, Boyle & Pope in Watsonville, California. From 1953 to 1954, he was a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Edward P. Murphy in San Francisco, California. Justice Brauer was a member of the California Judges Association in 1962 and a former member of the Chief Justice's Select Committee on the Courts and the Media from 1979 to 1980; the Judicial Council Criminal Justice Planning Committee from 1973 to 1979; the California Joint Legislative Committee for Revision of the Penal Code from 1970 to 1972; the Board of Directors of Watsonville Community Hospital from 1968 to 1972; and the Board of Directors of Family Service Association of Santa Cruz County from 1958 to 1961. He was also a former chair of the Santa Cruz County Civil Service Commission from 1960 to 1961. Justice Brauer taught at the California Trial Judges College Session (CJER) in Berkeley in 1973, as well as at judicial workshops sponsored by the California Judicial Council and Conference of California Judges. He was also a faculty member at the California College of Trial Judges in 1972, 1971, and 1969. Justice Brauer's noteworthy decisions include Dong v. Board of Trustees (1987), Kahn v. Superior Court (1987), Eldridge v. Tymshare, Inc. (1987), City of Carmel-by-the-Sea v. Board of Supervisors (1986), People v. Wilson (1986), Sher v. Leiderman (1986), West v. Johnson & Johnson Products, Inc. (1985), Akers v. Kelley Co. (1985), and In re Marriage of Lugo (1985). Justice Brauer received his LL.B. from Yale University Law School in New Haven, Connecticut in February 1951, where he served as a board of editors in 1950 and 1951. He also received his Ph.D. with honors from the University of Chicago in 1947. He was admitted to the California Bar on July 31, 1952. Justice Brauer is a Democrat and his interests include mountain climbing, backpacking, fishing, and listening to classical music. He is married to a psychiatric social worker and has one child.