Past Book Festivals

In 1974, James Ardaiz began his career as a prosecutor, rising to the position of Chief of Homicide. By 1980, at the age of 32, he became a Municipal Court Judge and later served as the Presiding Judge. He was then appointed to the California Superior Court, where he also served as the Presiding Criminal Judge. In 1988, he was appointed to the California Fifth District Court of Appeal. He later became the Administrative Presiding Justice of the Fifth District Court of Appeal, one of six presiding justices governing the state appellate system. During his time in the judiciary, he served on the Judicial Council, the governing body of the state judiciary, as well as in the capacity of Chair of the Executive Committee. Ardaiz has received numerous awards for his service, such as California Jurist of the Year, the highest honor a judge can receive from the California judiciary. 

Ardaiz retired from the judiciary in 2010 after thirty years of judicial service. Thereafter, he began working as an attorney in private practice and eventually returned to the courtroom as a trial attorney. He greatly enjoyed being a trial attorney and, during that time, achieved two national class verdicts. But his ambition was always to be a writer. When he was 55 years old, he set out to write books that would leave readers thinking about the stories he told and the dilemmas his characters faced.