Victoria Kolakowski

Victoria Kolakowski (born August 29, 1961) is an American lawyer who serves as a judge of the Alameda County Superior Court since January 2011. Kolakowski is the first openly transgender person to serve as a trial court judge of general jurisdiction in the United States, the first elected to a judgeship, and the first to serve as any type of judge in California. (Houston Municipal Court Judge Phyllis Frye was the first openly transgender judge of any type in the United States). Early life and education Kolakowski is the daughter of Martin and June Kolakowski of Staten Island, New York. She is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York City and the first person in her family to attend college. Kolakowski graduated from New College of Florida in Sarasota, Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences in 1982. She earned a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University in 1987 and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from University of New Orleans in 1990. Kolakowski graduated from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a juris doctor in 1989. She began her transition during her last semester of law school. Kolakowski underwent gender affirmation surgery in 1992 (this has previously been misreported as 1991). Kolakowski had to sue to take the bar exam in Louisiana after coming out as transgender.