Judge James Ernest Blancarte received his B.A. from Pomona College of Claremont Colleges and his J.D. from U.C.L.A. School of Law. After passing the California bar in 1979, we worked as an associate for Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp until 1984, when he became partner. In 1991, he became partner at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro and stayed in that role until 1993, when he started the Law Offices of James E. Blancarte. In 2004, he joined Carlsmith Ball LLP as partner, and then joined Alvarado Smith APC as partner from 2009-2014 and as of counsel from 2014-2016. He then served as a court commissioner from 2016 until he was appointed to the bench by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 2018.