LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Former federal prosecutor Stephanie S. Christensen was sworn in Wednesday as a U.S. magistrate judge in Los Angeles federal court.
Christensen -- who succeeds former Magistrate Judge John E. McDermott - - has served in multiple roles in her 15 years at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
As the acting U.S. attorney in 2022, she led an office of nearly 600 personnel and managed all federal government trial and appellate litigation in the Civil, Tax, National Security, and Criminal Divisions of the office. Since 2018, she has served in executive leadership as first assistant U.S. attorney, executive assistant U.S. attorney, and special counsel to the U.S. attorney.
Christensen oversaw and approved major settlements in a broad array of federal defensive and offensive litigation, including constitutional torts, medical malpractice, employment, tax, class action, qui tam, fraud, civil rights, social security, bankruptcy, criminal, and national security matters.
Prior to her service in executive leadership, she led the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section of the office, focusing on cyber-attacks impacting national security, as well as trademark and copyright infringement, theft of trade secrets, and economic espionage, according to Kiry K. Gray, the top clerk and executive for the Central District.
Christensen has also done pro bono work, and recently helped to launch a pro bono program for federal executive branch attorneys in Los Angeles.
In 2021, she was appointed to serve as a temporary judge for the Superior Court in Los Angeles County. In that role, with the consent of the parties, she has voluntary presided over small claims trials, unlawful detainer proceedings, and conducted settlement conferences.
The judge is also an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School teaching a Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes course.
Before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Christensen worked as an associate at two law firms litigating civil disputes and defending indigent individuals accused of federal crimes.
Including the position now occupied by Christensen, the Central District of California has 24 full-time and one part-time magistrate judge positions. The Central District comprises Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. It serves more than 19.3 million people, nearly half the population of the state.