ACBA member Judge Diane Meier was appointed to serve as a judge in the Alameda County Superior Court in August 2025. She was quickly sworn in and serves in Department 703. Prior to her appointment, Judge Meier was a senior chambers attorney at the First District Court of Appeal where she worked in a broad array of practice areas: civil, criminal, and writs. Judge Meier served on the Alameda County Bar Association Appellate Law Section’s Executive Committee, planning training programs and speaking on panels. Before her time at the First District, Judge Meier was a staff attorney at the Superior Court of Solano County where her work focused on criminal law, criminal writs, and appeals to the appellate division. Judge Meier obtained her J.D. from Washington and Lee University School in Virginia, where she spent her final year clerking at the Circuit Court of Virginia.
When did you know you wanted to be a lawyer?
As the daughter of a Filipina mother and Swiss father, I grew up traveling and living in different places. My younger years were spent in the Philippines, and traveling extensively in Europe and Asia, before we moved to the U.S. Being exposed to so many different cultures and ways of life sparked my interest in international relations, and working in the foreign service. Ultimately, I went to law school because I thought a law degree would be a path to that goal. Directly after law school, my first job/internship was with an international intergovernmental organization where I monitored war crimes trials and human rights abuses in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, after the civil war there.
While working abroad, however, I kept thinking about my time clerking for two trial court judges in my 3L year of law school. I really loved working with and collaborating with judges, learning the law, and making sure the law was applied in a just and consistent way in any given case. So I ended up coming back to the U.S. and getting a position as a court research attorney working for the Superior Court of Solano County with a wonderful group of judges, and I’ve never looked back.
If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what would you be doing instead?
I would definitely be an animation artist working at Pixar. I still enjoy sketching in my free time with my two nine year old twins.
What do you know now that you wish you had known when you were first admitted to practice?
That there are so many facets of being an effective lawyer. You do need to be smart, but you also need to understand how to get things done, to be organized, to know how to communicate with people, etc. And you need to listen when that voice inside is telling you what drives you.
What is the biggest challenge facing you as a lawyer today?
For me personally it would be about time management – I have nine year old twins, and pets, and the time really flies by. I’m very driven and passionate about my job, but I also want to enjoy my time with my family – going to local beaches, going hiking, and taking in all the wonderful things the Bay Area has to offer.
What is your favorite part of being a lawyer?
It may sound cheesy but put simply, I love the law. I’m constantly stimulated by learning about new areas of the law, and I want the law to make society better for all.
What is your dream vacation?
Yosemite is a special place for me as a rock climber. People always associate California with beaches, but I love spending time with my family in the incredible mountains in California as well.
What are you reading now?
I just bought and started reading “Some People Need Killing” by Patricia Evangelista, which is about the extrajudicial killings ordered by former president Rodrigo Duterte in his so-called “war on drugs” in the Philippines.
What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?
I had a rainbow themed wedding ceremony on a cliff overlooking a beach. I’m not sure that’s surprising necessarily, but it’s a fun fact. Gay marriage wasn’t yet legal, but me and my wife had the ceremony anyway, even though we were both busy (she was a young physician, and I was a young lawyer) and had almost no money for a formal event. Luckily, we had great friends that helped us pull it off. And the day after Obergefell v. Hodges came down, we got a marriage certificate at City Hall in San Francisco.
What person, living or dead, real or fictional, would you like to have dinner with?
I remember reading the biographies of Teddy Roosevelt by Edmund Morris when I was younger and just felt fascinated by him and his life. He just seemed like a true renaissance man and of course one of the heroes of our National Parks.
Why do you choose to be a member of the ACBA? What is the greatest benefit you have enjoyed as a member?
I love Alameda County; there are so many talented, intelligent, and diverse people living and practicing law here. I love that the ACBA brings everyone together so that we can get to know each other, and learn from each other.
Please help us welcome Judge Meier to the bench! And if you’re interested in ways the Alameda County Bar Association can help you in your career, find more information on our Why Join page.
