Judge Shelleyanne Chang Joins Sacramento Superior Court
By Helene Friedman; Photo by Ken Rabiroff

Newly-appointed Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne W. L. Chang is a soft-spoken, unpretentious, slender woman of medium stature. She is eminently gracious and friendly. Born in Hawaii to third generation Chinese-Americans from Guangchou (formerly Canton), South China, Judge Chang grew up predominantly in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. She attended the University of Washington, the alma mater of both her parents, and, thereafter, opted for McGeorge Law School because of its international law program. Not enamored of being a law student and disillusioned by the hurdles minority students face in a gate-keeping environment, Judge Chang nevertheless unequivocally loves the practice of law.

During our interview, the court clerk apprised the judge of the morning's calendar. Judge Chang reserved sufficient time to review matters. After conferring with counsel in chambers, she took the bench and handled the first two preliminary hearings of her judicial career. After 18 years of civil litigation, Chang now sits on the criminal bench, adjudicating serious criminal allegations, witnessing the immediacy, and occasionally, poignancy of the law's impact on the public, defendants, victims, and even jurors.

Shelleyanne Chang began her legal career in 1985 in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, where she represented the Commissioner of Internal Revenue before the United States Tax Court and United States Bankruptcy Courts in all areas of federal tax law. In 1993, Floyd D. Shimomura, now Chief Counsel of the Department of Finance, then head of the Government Law Section of the Attorney General's Office, hired her to fill the section's need for a bond counsel. She served as a Deputy Attorney General from 1993 to 1999. In that capacity, she provided legal representation before state and federal courts on behalf of the State, State constitutional officers, the Department of Finance, and public pension systems. She also served as bond counsel for the California Housing Finance Agency and was a member of the Attorney General's Tobacco Litigation Team.

In 1997, Judge Chang received the Attorney General's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Client Representation and Litigation. The award was based, in part, on her settlement of a massive, complex litigation matter with a prominent Wall Street firm, where she garnered $67 million for the State's coffers. She is also a two-time recipient of the Office of Chief Counsel, IRS, Outstanding Achievement Award and Manager's Award.

Before her December 19, 2002 appointment, Judge Chang served as the Chief Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor Gray Davis. In that capacity, she advised the Governor and his staff on legal issues and pending litigation, provided direction to the Attorney General's Office on litigation involving the Governor, and reviewed and analyzed proposed legislation. She was one of the primary attorneys representing the State on Indian gaming issues and was one of four attorneys on the Governor's negotiating team that negotiated and drafted the Tribal-State Gaming Compacts with 61 Indian tribes in 1999.

Judge Chang said that the Governor believes in a diverse bench. She opined that if community organizations, like Women Lawyers of Sacramento, sought out, encouraged and supported qualified, competent women lawyers for the bench, this Governor would be responsive. Judge Chang spoke glowingly about her former client. She averred that the Governor is an "amazingly smart man" with a "sharp legal mind." Simultaneously serving the public and having a client who understood the "nuances of the law and any legal situation" was, for her, an exhilarating professional experience.

Judge Chang has been a member of the Asian/Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento, the Milton L. Schwartz Inn of Court, the City of Sacramento Affirmative Action Advisory Committee, and the Board of Legal Services of Northern California. She was a co-founder of the Asian-Pacific Pro Bono Panel, Voluntary Legal Services Program.

Judge Chang is the middle child of an orthodontist and his wife. She is the only non-medical sibling of the family: her older brother is an orthodontist, and her younger sister, a neurologist. Her parents emphasized education, expected their children to do well in school, encouraged professional careers, and fostered close family bonds.

On March 13, 2003, her husband, 10-year-old daughter, parents, siblings and in-laws witnessed Judge Chang take the oath of judicial office. The room at the Sheraton Grand, downtown Sacramento, overflowed with judges, deputy attorneys general, members of the governor's staff, IRS counsel, extended family, and friends.

At the event, I happened to sit next to a young reporter, new to a local station. She was looking for a story. Afterwards, the reporter surmised that everyone liked the new judge, respected her work and wished her well. No story here, she confided.