Sandra James (Navajo)

Friendship House Board Member Emeritus & the Chief Judge of the Yurok Tribe

Abby is a Village SF partner, working with Friendship House to bring in-patient treatment services to the Yurok and seven surrounding tribes, in the northern part of the state. Considered a “living treasure” throughout Indian country, Abby holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of New Mexico School of Law and was the first California tribal woman to be admitted to the State Bar of California. She was a State Judicial Officer (Commissioner) for the San Francisco Superior Court for over 17 years assigned to the Unified Family Court (Family/Dependency/Delinquency).

She retired from the Superior Court in September 2011. On July 31, 2014 she was reappointed as a part-time Commissioner for San Francisco assigned to Dependency, and Duty Judge for that Court where she served until 2015. She has been a Yurok Tribal Court Judge since 1997 and was appointed Chief Tribal Court Judge in 2007, a position she held in conjunction with her Superior Court assignment until 2015, when she resigned from the Superior Court to devote full attention to developing a model Tribal Court system.

On August 16, 2023 she was reappointed by Patricia Guerrero Chief Justice of California and Chair of the Judicial Council of California as co-chair of the Judicial Council of California's Tribal Court-State Court Forum with her new term to begin on September 15, 2023. She was selected by Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire as the 2023 North Coast Woman of the Year.