The Honorable Tamila Ebrahimi Ipema received her Bachelor’s Degree from Damavand College in Tehran, Iran. She received her Master’s and J.D. degrees from University of Louisville in Kentucky. She also has a LL.M. Degree in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University School of Law. Judge Ipema has served as a judicial officer for nearly 12 years. She has family, criminal, and civil experience. She has worked as an immigration defense attorney, Assistant District Counsel with the U.S. Department of Justice in immigration matters for DHS; as a judicial research attorney, and supervising research attorney for the Los Angeles Superior Court. She has also served as a California Superior Court Commissioner in both Los Angeles and San Diego Counties prior to her appointment as a Judge to the San Diego Superior Court. Judge Ipema has extensive teaching experience and is very involved in her community mentoring children and law students; she also has programs training incarcerated women to become productive members of the society. Judge Ipema received National Association of Women Judge’s (NAWJ) Mattie Belle Davis Award in 2013 for furthering the organization’s mission of “Access to Justice for All.” She also received Lawyers Club of San Diego’s “International Woman of Color” award in 2015, and “Friend of the Community Award” from Tom Homann Law Association in 2016. She also received two “Outstanding Jurist Awards” from both La Verne College of Law and San Diego County Bar Association in 2016.