Since he left the bench in January 2011, former California Supreme Court Justice Ronald George has been immersed in drafting a memoir/oral history with the assistance of the University of California’s Institute of Governmental Studies. The result, Chief: The Quest for Justice in California, will be published by Berkeley Public Policy Press on November 6.

The book chronicles George’s extraordinary career of public service, from his time as a young deputy attorney general to his rise through the ranks of the California judiciary. This vivid account, as described to an oral historian interviewing the former chief justice, offers an insider’s view of the recent legal history of America’s most dynamic state. Readers see a story that offers insight and detail on many of the legal issues and controversies that have grasped the attention of the nation and the world.

From 1965 to 1972, George was a deputy California attorney general and represented the state before the U.S. Supreme Court in a number of cases. Governor Ronald Reagan appointed George to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1972, and Governor Jerry Brown appointed him to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1977. Governor George Deukmejian appointed him to the California Second District Court of Appeal in 1987. He was named by Governor Pete Wilson to the state Supreme Court in 1991 and appointed chief justice in 1996.

Jeffrey Toobin, lawyer, author, and legal analyst for CNN and The New Yorker, praises George: “His life is an epic in modern American law. In the Supreme Court of the United States and that of California—where he was a distinguished chief justice—George touched and shaped all the great legal issues of his day. His remarkable oral history, which covers everything from the Hillside strangler case to the battle over same-sex marriage, is a wonderful introduction to this remarkable man.” Read profile of George in the Fall 2008 issue of the Stanford Lawyer.