Division Six: Associate Justice Steven Z. Perren

Justice Steven Z. Perren was born and raised in Los Angeles, receiving his undergraduate education at U.C.L.A., and was president of the law school class of 1967. After graduation he served in Vietnam as a Captain in the Army Signal Corps and served additional duty as a military prosecutor and defense attorney.

Justice Perren served for three years as a deputy district attorney for the County of Ventura then entered private practice working as a civil and criminal litigator until his appointment to the bench in 1983.

In 1999, Justice Perren was confirmed as an Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal in the Second Appellate District after serving for 17 years as a Superior Court Judge for the County of Ventura. As a trial judge, he presided over hundreds of Criminal and Civil Trials as well as serving in the Family Law department. He was the Presiding Judge of the Ventura County Superior Court in 1992 and 1993.

Perhaps his most gratifying assignment was serving for five years as the Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court. For this service he was honored to have Ventura County's Juvenile Justice Center bear his name. In 1984 and again in 1998 he was recognized by The Ventura County Trial Lawyers as its "Trial Judge of the Year."

In addition to his professional duties, Justice Perren has served on various charitable boards including United Way of Ventura County, Casa Pacifica Children's Home, Ventura Boys and Girls Club as well as its National Advisory Board on Youth and Gang Violence, the U.C.L.A. Law Alumni Assoc. (President - 2006) and the Board of Directors of Temple Beth Torah where he also served as assistant cantoral soloist. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Ventura Music Festival.  He has performed regularly in community and regional Opera and Musical Theater and as a choir member and soloist with the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic and “Legal Voices.”

We are honored to welcome Justice Perren to The Resource and gain his expert insights on the courts as well as a special look into his talents as a singer.