M. James Lorenz
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1999 and confirmed by voice vote, M. James Lorenz is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He earned a law degree from California Western School of Law in 1965. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1935 · age 91
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1999
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of California, Berkeley 1957 · California Western Law 1965
- Succeeded
- Rudi M. Brewster
- Succeeded by
- Anthony Joseph Battaglia
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Southern District of California succeeded Rudi M. Brewster | Clinton (D) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Lorenz was assigned 3,547 district-court cases (1992–2025). Median time from filing to termination: 176 days across 3,499 closed cases.
Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.
On appeal
Of 162 of Lorenz’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 126 were affirmed, 22 reversed or vacated, and 14 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.
In our data, Lorenz authored 35 published opinions for the court (2000–2012). Most cited: Hubbard v. 7-Eleven, Inc. (48 citations).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Recent & notable rulings
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Hubbard v. 7-Eleven, Inc. | 433 F. Supp. 2d 1134 | 48 |
| 2001 | United States v. Boyce | 148 F. Supp. 2d 1069 | 39 |
| 2000 | Abada v. Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. | 127 F. Supp. 2d 1101 | 23 |
| 2007 | Sneddon v. ABF Freight Systems | 489 F. Supp. 2d 1124 | 16 |
| 2008 | Kearney v. Foley and Lardner | 553 F. Supp. 2d 1178 | 15 |
| 2010 | Ollier v. Sweetwater Union High School District | 735 F. Supp. 2d 1222 | 14 |
| 2002 | In Re Peerless Systems, Corp. Securities Litigation | 182 F. Supp. 2d 982 | 13 |
| 2002 | Herring v. Teradyne, Inc. | 256 F. Supp. 2d 1118 | 11 |
| 2006 | In Re Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Securities Litigation | 452 F. Supp. 2d 1005 | 10 |
| 2006 | Alaska Electrical Pension Fund v. Adecco S.A. | 434 F. Supp. 2d 815 | 8 |
| 2005 | Harris v. Costco Wholesale Corp. | 389 F. Supp. 2d 1244 | 8 |
| 2005 | Alaska Electrical Pension Fund v. Adecco S.A. | 371 F. Supp. 2d 1203 | 8 |
| 2004 | Noyes v. Grossmont Union High School District | 331 F. Supp. 2d 1233 | 8 |
| 2002 | Kingray, Inc. v. National Basketball Ass'n | 188 F. Supp. 2d 1177 | 8 |
| 2011 | Vera v. O'KEEFE | 791 F. Supp. 2d 959 | 7 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 35 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed M. James Lorenz?
- President William J. Clinton appointed M. James Lorenz to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 1999.
- Was M. James Lorenz appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- M. James Lorenz was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was M. James Lorenz's confirmation vote?
- M. James Lorenz was confirmed by voice vote on October 1, 1999. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is M. James Lorenz on?
- M. James Lorenz is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
26 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).