Governor Edmund “Jerry” G. Brown, Jr. appointed the Honorable Benjamin T. Reyes II to the Superior Court of California on May 22, 2017. Judge Reyes is the first Filipino American judge on the Contra Costa bench, and only the second Filipino American trial court judge appointed in the nine San Francisco Bay Area Counties.
For most of his 24 years as an attorney, Judge Reyes managed a public agency practice. Judge Reyes was an Equity Principal at Meyers Nave, a statewide public agency law firm. . Judge Reyes served on the firm’s Executive and Diversity Committees and chaired the firm’s Public Contracts Practice.
While at Meyers Nave, he was appointed to serve as the City Attorney for the Cities of Pinole and Union City and District Counsel for the Stege Sanitary District in El Cerrito. Judge Reyes also held the position of General Counsel for the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee and Assistant General Counsel for the Rodeo-Hercules Fire District.
Judge Reyes served as General Counsel of Utility.com, an online utility company, from 2000 to 2001 and as an attorney at the East Bay Municipal Utility District from 1997 to 2000. Judge Reyes started his career in public law as a Deputy City Attorney at the San Jose City Attorney’s Office in 1997. He was a litigation associate at Boornazian, Jensen and Garthe from 1993 to 1997. Judge Reyes served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1983 to 1987.
Judge Reyes is an Eagle Scout and served as the President of the Boy Scouts of America, Alameda Council. He previously served as the President of the Alameda Free Library Foundation, as a Board Member of the California Alumni Association (Berkeley) and as the Chair of the Contra Costa City Attorneys Association. He is active in the California Asian Pacific Judges Association, Filipino Bar Association of Northern California, Asian American Bar Association and the Contra Costa County Bar Association. He was recently elected as the President of the California Asian Pacific Judges Association PAC.
Judge Reyes teaches on the faculty of the University of San Francisco School of Law Intensive Advocacy Program and volunteers as an instructor for the Trial Skills Program at Stanford Law School. He also teaches an oral advocacy course for LLM Students at Berkeley Law.
Judge Reyes earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Education
Juris Doctor, University of San Francisco School of Law (1992)
Bachelor of Arts, University of California Berkeley (1987)