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Los Angeles County, CA November 4, 2008 Election
Smart Voter Full Biography for Thomas Rubinson

Candidate for
Judge, Superior Court; County of Los Angeles; Office 82

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This information is provided by the candidate

Thomas Rubinson, candidate for Judge of the Superior Court Office No. 82, has spent his entire 17-year career as a Deputy District Attorney, seeking to promote public safety and protect our communities from dangerous criminals who prey on innocent, hardworking citizens and who can destroy our neighborhoods and families. Mr. Rubinson has done so in a highly ethical manner, recognizing that the role of a prosecutor is not to "win at all costs" but rather to prosecute cases aggressively but fairly, and above all to seek justice.

In his career, Mr. Rubinson has handled cases throughout Los Angels County, including downtown, East Los Angeles, Compton, and the San Fernando Valley. The bulk of his trial career has been spent in the elite Hardcore Gang Division, where over 6 1/2 years he prosecuted gang murder cases exclusively. In his career, Mr. Rubinson has tried 88 felony jury trials, 45 of which were murder cases, with an extremely high success rate. When added to the juvenile trials he has prosecuted, he has tried over 200 felony cases. He has also been appointed to several supervisory roles in the District Attorney's Office where he has served as manager and mentor to many young attorneys.

For his successful prosecution of the Dodger Stadium murder, Mr. Rubinson was named 2005 Prosecutor of the Year by the prestigious organization Justice for Homicide Victims. In June, 2003 he was named Deputy District Attorney of the Month for his successful murder prosecution of Damian "Football" Williams, who had gained infamy for the televised 1992 beating of trucker Reginald Denny at the outset of the civil disturbances following the verdicts in the Rodney King case.

Mr. Rubinson is active in community affairs. For years, he has used his vacation time to help build homes for the needy with Habitat for Humanity all over the United States and the world, including building 21 homes in a single week in Watts/Willowbrook in 1995. He also has been active as a Big Brother and Board of Directors Member of the Boyle Heights College Institute, seeking to help young people from the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles to get on the track to college. He is also a member of the Guardians of the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging.

In 2006, he was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section, and remains on the Executive Committee.

Mr. Rubinson graduated cum laude from Duke University and graduated from UCLA School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review.

Thomas Rubinson has all the qualities that are truly important in a judge. He has a steady moral compass, one that drives him to do the right thing and the fair thing with each and every case he handles. He understands that the criminal justice system is made up of human beings, not numbers or files. He has demonstrated throughout a 17- year career that he is committed to public safety, while never losing his humanity. He works extremely hard, and gets results. For all of these reasons, he is endorsed by District Attorney Steve Cooley and supported by many other elected officials, judges, law enforcement groups, and community groups.

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 6, 2008 01:55
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