JUDGE JEFFREY ROSS REPORT CARD

Jeffrey Ross was appointed to the Superior Court in September 2009 by former Governor Schwarzenegger. Judge Ross earned a B.A from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.  In 1975 Ross joined the law firm of Friedman, Ross and Hersh where he represented individuals charged with drug possession and sale, bank robbery, rape and murder.  He also handled divorce and custody disputes and cases against employers who violated collective bargaining agreements.  In 1999 he joined Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman where he tried complex civil cases and co-led its white-collar defense team, the health care practice team and its corporate investigations team. 

Grade: INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION TO GRADE

Survey Rating: Judge Ross earned a high average survey rating of 6.4 from trial attorneys who closely observe the courts.  Ratings are on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 the highest score.  When asked which judge they would want to appear before for an important trial for a serious crime, nearly a third of trial attorneys responding named Judge Ross in their top three, including several respondents who listed him as their top choice.

Refused to answer any questions posed to judges regarding voter education, appeals of their decisions, published writings, judicial application, etc.

Case History: Judge Ross issued very few orders on narcotics sales cases during the period of our study.

Example: None.

Comments from Court Observers:

“A public defender ran against him last time, calling life-long Democrat Ross a Republican (because he was appointed by Gov. Schwarzenegger).He has a defense bias but is open about it (so it's not difficult to work with him knowing in advance how that bias will manifest itself). Press coverage on a case, so he transferred the case to Judge Hite. Did case where fleeing suspect ran over 2 kids on Buchanan. He has a temper because he is impatient with inefficiency.”

Appeals: No relevant appeals.

Media reports:

Presided over Sean Moore case (unarmed man shot by SFPD who was charged with several felonies, died in 2020). Dismissed eight out of ten criminal charges against Moore: https://sfpublicdefender.org/news/2017/05/case-dismissed-against-unarmed-man-shot-by-police/ 

Background and civil cases: https://trellis.law/judge/jeffrey.s.ross

Questions and answers with Judge Ross: https://www.law.com/therecorder/almID/1202538482607/