Division Five: Associate Justice Carl H. Moor

Justice Carl Moor has spent his entire 30-year legal career in Los Angeles. He moved to the city after earning a B.A. with High Honors from Swarthmore College in 1983 and a law degree from Yale Law School in 1988. He was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois.

In 2013, he was appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. as a Judge to the Los Angeles Superior Court, where he presided as a trial judge in criminal and family law cases. In 2018, Governor Brown appointed Justice Moor as an Associate Justice to the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Five. He was confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments after receiving an “exceptionally well qualified” rating from the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation.

Justice Moor began his legal career as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Mariana R. Pfaelzer, United States District Judge, Central District of California. Following his clerkship, he spent his first five years as a practicing lawyer at public interest law firm Hall & Phillips. At the firm, he represented relators under the False Claim Act and worked closely with the Department of Justice to recover funds in cases where the government had been defrauded. He also represented homeowners and environmental groups in actions under the California Environmental Quality Act and a consumer advocacy organization in actions to enforce an insurance reform initiative.

Justice Moor then served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California over two periods totaling more than six years. As a federal prosecutor, Justice Moor specialized in criminal cases involving securities, investment, financial, insurance, telemarketing, and tax frauds. He also prosecuted violent crimes, including bank robbery, and narcotics trafficking.

Between his two terms as a federal prosecutor, Justice Moor worked as in-house Litigation Counsel at NBC, Inc., supervising the work of outside counsel in civil litigation matters.

Immediately prior to his appointment as a judge, Justice Moor was a Partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. In his twelve years with the firm, he handled a wide variety of cases for companies, mostly in the defense, financial services, health care, manufacturing, and entertainment industries, non-profit organizations, and individuals, including executive officers, lawyers, and accountants. His practice included complex civil litigation, enforcement investigations by government agencies, federal and state criminal investigations, and internal investigations.

Justice Moor is married to UCLA School of Law Professor Ann Carlson, who is the Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law and the inaugural Faculty Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. They have two adult children.