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LWV League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA March 2, 2004 Election
Smart Voter Full Biography for Craig Jordan Mitchell

Candidate for
Superior Court Judge; County of Los Angeles; Office 53

[photo]
This information is provided by the candidate

FAMILY:

- Craig Mitchell is the oldest son of Charles and Doris Mitchell. Craig's mother died when he was 9 years old. His father remarried Waldine Koerper. Craig has two brothers and two sisters.

- Craig Mitchell is married to Juliet Ingram. He has three children: Jordan, age 17; Lauren, age 13; Lincoln, age 11.

EDUCATION:

- Craig Mitchell attended public schools in Pasadena, South Pasadena and Irvine, where he graduated from high school in 1974.

- Craig Mitchell attended UCLA, where he received a bachelors degree in 1978. While at UCLA he was selected to participate the Native American Field Research Project, a program where Craig and seven other students lived on Indian reservations in North Dakota while they conducted research.

- Craig Mitchell also worked on behalf of the United Farm Workers while in college.

- Throughout college Craig worked at several jobs, paying all of his college expenses. He did not receive any financial aid from either UCLA or his family.

- In addition to receiving his bachelors degree, he also received his secondary teaching credential when he graduated.

- Craig Mitchell attended law school at Southwestern University of Law from 1987 until he received his Juris Doctorate in 1991. He was a night student and worked full time as a teacher throughout law school. He competed on the Civil Rights Moot Court Team. He was awarded several academic scholarships, including the Tom Bradley Scholarship. He passed the California Bar exam in 1991.

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY:

- Craig Mitchell taught high school for 17 years. He taught for 9 years at Serra High School, an all boys, Catholic high school, serving student primarily from Inglewood, South Los Angeles and Compton. He taught primarily English Composition and American Literature. He worked for many years in the religious education program at Serra High School. He also organized a program where he would take 10 students across country each summer, visiting Washington D.C., a program designed to encourage students to consider careers in public service. Many of his students went on to distinguish themselves in college (attending such schools as Yale, Stanford, M.I.T., the University of Chicago, as well as the University of California). Craig Mitchell maintains close ties with many of his former Serra Students.

- Craig Mitchell taught students at Whitney Young Continuation High School for 4 years. Most of the students at Young High were designated "at risk." They either had juvenile criminal histories (gang involvement), had failed to perform satisfactorily at Crenshaw High School, and many of the female students were young mothers. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Craig Mitchell worked with local employers to find entry-level jobs for many of his students.

- Craig Mitchell ended his teaching career at Woodrow Wilson High School in East Los Angeles. He taught in the Law Magnet, including teaching Advanced Placement Government. He coached Wilson High's Mock Trial Team for several years. Many of his students have gone on to distinguish themselves in the law, in medicine, as well as many other professions.

DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY:

- In 1994 Craig Mitchell began his career in the District Attorney's Office of Los Angeles County. He has served as a prosecutor in Downey, Whittier, Norwalk, Glendale, Burbank, San Fernando and downtown Los Angeles. He founded the Domestic Violence Prosecution Unit in San Fernando + a unit where he prosecuted not only domestic violence cases, but cases involving sexual assault and child abuse. He was awarded the Outstanding Prosecutor Award by Gill Garcetti in 2000. For the past 3 years Craig Mitchell has been assigned to the Family Violence Division where he has prosecuted primarily those charged with murder, sexual assault and child abuse.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

- For the past seven years Craig Mitchell has coached Providence High School's Mock Trial Team. This is a program sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation. Many of the students involved in the this program have gone on to pursue careers in the law. In 2002 Craig Mitchell participated in the California AIDS Ride, riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise money to combat AIDS and HIV.

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: February 26, 2004 10:40
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