Last week’s Recorder reported 6th District Justice Franklin Elia Announces His Retirement — Associate Justice Franklin Elia has participated in 11,930 appellate decisions since joining the Sixth District Court of Appeal in October 1988.

  • Elia’s departure marks the end of a 34-year tenure on the appellate bench and a 47-year legal career that started in 1975 when, as a recent graduate of Santa Clara University School of Law, he joined the attorney general’s office as a deputy in the criminal division.
  • After a stint in the Palo Alto city attorney’s office, Elia, at age 33, was appointed to the Santa Clara County Municipal Court in 1983 by Gov. George Deukmejian. In 1986, he was elevated to the Superior Court and just two years after that Deukmejian named him to the Sixth District, making him one of the state’s youngest-ever appellate court justices at 38 years old.
  • Elia has participated in 11,930 appellate decisions and authored 3,793 opinions, including 330 published opinions.