title: Stephen Kaus
text: # Stephen Kaus
  
  Stephen Kaus is a judge in the Alameda County Superior Court, Oakland, California, appointed by Governor Jerry Brown, effective December 2012. Previous to his appointment Kaus was a partner practicing civil litigation attorney at Cooper, White & Cooper LLP in San Francisco, California and an occasional blog commentator on The Huffington Post. He is also the brother of journalist Mickey Kaus.
  
  ## Education
  
  Kaus received his B.A. degree in political science, cum laude, from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1970. He also studied politics for a year at the University of Sussex. He received his J.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1973.
  
  ## Career
  
  Kaus began his law career as a deputy public defender for Contra Costa County California from 1974 to 1980. He then moved to work as a partner at Kaus Kerr and Wagstaffe from 1982 to 1990, before starting a solo practice until 1993. He then served as a lawyer at Cooper White and Cooper LLP, making partner in 1995.
  
  Kaus was appointed as a Superior Court Judge in 2012 after a county commissioner's spot was converted. He then ran unopposed on a 2014 ballot, with his current term set to expire in 2021.
  
  