Lourdes Baird
Mary Lourdes Gillespie Baird is an Ecuadorian-born American lawyer and jurist who previously served as a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the [Central District of California] from 1992 to 2004.
Early life and education
Baird was born as Lourdes Gillespie in Quito, Ecuador on May 12, 1935, the seventh child of Josefina Delgado and James C. Gillespie. A year later the family relocated to Los Angeles, California, where Baird was raised a devout Catholic and enrolled in Catholic all-girls schools. After graduating high school, she went to a secretarial college before marrying businessman William T. Baird, with whom she had three children. She then returned to school and went on to receive an Associate of Arts degree from Los [Angeles City College] in 1971, a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from the University of [California, Los Angeles] in 1973, and a Juris Doctor from the UCLA School of Law in 1976.Career
Baird was an assistant [United States attorney] of the Central District of California from 1977 to 1983. She was in private practice in Los Angeles from 1983 to 1986. She was a judge on the East Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1986 to 1987, on the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1987 to 1988, and on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County from 1988 to 1990. She was the United States Attorney for the Central District of California from 1990 to 1992.She was an adjunct professor at UCLA School of Law.