Richard J. McAdams

Richard John McAdams is currently serving as an Associate Justice for the Sixth District Court of Appeal, a position he has held since 2003. Before his current role, McAdams held several other judicial offices. He was elected to the Superior Court in June 1998 and served until 2003. Prior to that, he was a Municipal Court Judge for the Coordinated Superior and Municipal Courts in Santa Cruz. He was appointed to this position by Governor Brown Jr. on April 26, 1977, succeeding Judge Roland K. Hall. He was elected in 1982 and reelected in 1988 and 1994. He also served as the Presiding Judge in 1990, 1987, 1984, and 1980. Before his judicial career, McAdams was a private law practitioner in Santa Cruz, California, where he handled family law and personal injury cases. He was a partner at Fox, McAdams & Popin from February 1976 to April 1977, and at Fox & McAdams from May 1974 to February 1976. He also worked as a sole practitioner from April 1973 to May 1974. During this time, he provided free services to Head Start, a local daycare center, and other nonprofit organizations.

McAdams has been a member of the California Judges Association since 1977 and has served on several of its committees. He has also been a member of the California Judicial Council and the California Center for Judicial Education and Research. In addition to his judicial work, McAdams has been a faculty member at the Judicial College of the California Center for Judicial Education and Research since 1991. He has also been a panelist and speaker at various conferences.

McAdams received his Juris Doctor degree from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in June 1968. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, which he received in June 1965. He attended the University of Oregon in Eugene from 1961 to 1963 and graduated from San Mateo High School in San Mateo, California, in 1961. Born on February 27, 1944, in Albany, California, McAdams is married and has two children. He was admitted to the California Bar, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, on January 9, 1969. He is a Democrat and practices the Catholic faith.