Lloyd Handler

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Lloyd E. Handler

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Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 7, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of California, Davis, 1984

Law

UCLA School of Law, 1987

Personal

Birthplace

Lincoln, Neb.

Religion

Jewish

Profession

Deputy public defender

Contact

Campaign website

Personal Facebook

Lloyd E. Handler ran for election for judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California. He lost in the primary on June 7, 2022.

Handler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Lloyd E. Handler was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Davis in 1984 and a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1987. Handler's career experience includes working as a deputy public defender and deputy district attorney. He has been affiliated with the Democratic Party, NARAL, Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, and Nature Conservancy.

Elections

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Los Angeles County, California (2022)

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Incumbent David B. Gelfound won election outright against Lloyd E. Handler in the primary for Superior Court of Los Angeles County on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	David B. Gelfound (Nonpartisan)	64.9	806,538
	Submit photo	Lloyd E. Handler (Nonpartisan)	35.1	435,631

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,242,169
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

To view Handler's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Lloyd E. Handler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Handler's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Lloyd Handler is a Deputy Public Defender whose 33 years of trial experience in the criminal courts also include time as a Deputy District Attorney and in private practice. The State Bar certified him as a specialist in criminal law in 2003. Capital cases have been part of his caseload since 2008.

He believes that no one in the courtroom should be able to tell from a judges decisions and demeanor what side of table he used to sit on. Lloyd understands that on many occasions the interests of community safety and victims demonstrate a convicted person's actions are deserving of punishment. However, where the requires the judge to make a decision between imprisonment and release on probation, he believes that a judge must work with the parties to determine what the root causes of a person's criminality are and determine whether the programs and services exist that can reliably address those problems before opting for imprisonment. Lloyd understands that when a person can otherwise only be incarcerated for a limited period of time, the community is made safer by rehabilitating those who are amendable to treatment and reintegrating them into society.

Father of two bi-racial sons, he is deeply aware that both there is a potential for both explicit and implicit bias in every aspect of the judicial system. He feels that judges turning a blind eye to law enforcement misconduct when it is demonstrated in the courtroom has contributed to distrust of the system.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect in a courtroom, regardless of whether they are an accused, a victim, a witness, a juror, a clerk, an interpreter or a lawyer.
• Consistent with the law and public safety, judges should explore all options reasonably likely to lead to rehabilitation before imposing prison sentences.
• The courts must work to ensure that jury panels reflect a representative cross section of the community and that lawyers do not impermissibly excuse jurors because of race, religion, gender or sexual preference.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I woman's right to choose. I feel that I can comment on this issue as I don't feel there is any chance of a case involving this right coming before me as a trial judge in California. My maternal grandmother, a single parent, almost bled to death due to a botched abortion performed by the same midwife who delivered my mother. Had my grandmother not had this procedure, as horrific as it was, it is extremely unlikely that had my mother would have been able to leave home and go to college if she had had a younger sister she had to help take care of and help support. That would have made it very unlikely that she would have met my father.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to Father Greg Boyle, Jesuit Priest and founder of Homeboy Industries. I met him in 1990 the year Ieft the DA's Office and became a Public Defender. By sheer force of will he has taught the lesson over and over that very few are irredeemable, and that love, education and a job will stop more bullets than a prison wall. Additionally, his tireless efforts to help people and to speak up about what one believes is right should be a model for all lawyers who work in a criminal courtroom, prosecutors as well as defense lawyers.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Bryan Stevenson's "Just Mercy" or Greg Boyle's "Tattoos from the Heart- the power of boundless compassion."

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty and a drive to do the right thing despite potential personal cost.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Honesty and integrity

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Disfruto, an emotional ballad by extraordinary Mexican singer-songwriter Carla Morrison.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

As a White man I have struggled raising two bi-racial sons to adulthood, having to understand their mother's family culture and the legacy of racism and its effects that it may have or may have had at different stages of their development, and taking a deep look into my own culture and determining what aspects of it I most feel I should attempt to imbue in them.

Is there a particular judge, past or present, whom you admire?

I admire Judge John Meigs of Inglewood. Not only did he run a fair and impartial courtroom in which everyone was respected, but he had high expectations of individuals and believed in holding people accountable while understanding human frailty and believed the possibility of redemption should not be overlooked.

Do you believe that empathy is an important quality for a judge?

A judge must always have empathy for both victims, defendants, witnesses, jurors, and yes, the occasional lawyer. However, he must have the backbone to do what the law requires and what is right, even if it means making a decision that is not in the interest of the person for whom he has empathy.

Have you ever been rated by a Bar Association? If so, what was the rating?

The LA County Bar Association assessed my experience and temperament and found me qualified for the position.

Why are you running for this particular court seat?

I am running to be a judge because I think my varied background and lengthy experience makes me exceptionally qualified to be a good judge. However, I am running for this particular seat in order to defeat Judge Gelfound in the process of becoming a judge. I chose to run against this opponent because defense lawyers and defendants in his courtroom quickly infer that he was formerly a prosecutor. However, as the site judge with managerial control over the three courthouses in the San Fernando Judicial District, he failed to remove a judge who openly opposed the new DA on Facebook - an activity for which it was clear the Commission on Judicial Performance would eventually censure the judge - from his central role as the Early Disposition Court judge who was in charge of approving or disapproving settlements proposed by the DA. This lack of understanding how this bias infected the process demonstrated his unfitness for his role. Moreover, he has resisted the expansion of collaborative rehabilitative courts within his District, and has failed to remove impediments to the transfer of appropriate cases to other courthouses that have such programs. Consequently, defendants who might be successfully rehabilitated in other courthouses are being sent to prison from the San Fernando Judicial District.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for a judge to have previous experience in government or politics?

I think my experience as a field organizer in the 2008 and 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns exposed me to the concerns of normal people from all walks of like, so to the extent that such work has helped a judge understand the concerns of people who are non-lawyers and who are of a different race or economic status - and the stresses and pressures that often effect them, it is highly useful.

Would you be interested in serving on a higher court in the future? If so, which court appeals to you?

No.

Do you believe that Bar Association ratings are an accurate reflection of a judge’s ability?

No, I do not. The predominance of corporate lawyers and prosecutors contributes to what appears to be rating prosecutors higher than defense lawyers, and conservative candidates higher than ones perceived generally as more liberal.

Tell us your favorite joke.

What do you call a bus full of lawyers with one empty seat going over the edge of a cliff?

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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External links

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Candidate

Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Website

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Footnotes

California courts

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Federal courts:

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California

State courts:

California Supreme Court • California Courts of Appeal • California Superior Courts

State resources:

Courts in California • California judicial elections • Judicial selection in California