Nora Margaret Manella
Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California
In office October 22, 1998 – May 21, 2006
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Mariana Pfaelzer
Succeeded by	Jacqueline Nguyen
United States Attorney for theCentral District of California
In office January 3, 1994[1] – December 20, 1998
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Lourdes Baird[2]
Succeeded by	Alejandro Mayorkas[3]
Personal details
Born	(1951-01-22)January 22, 1951 (age 74)[4] Los Angeles, California
Education	Wellesley College (BA) University of Southern California Law School (JD)

Nora Margaret Manella (born January 22, 1951) was thePresiding Justice of theCalifornia Second District Court of Appeal, Division Four and a formerUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California.

Born inLos Angeles,California, Manella received aBachelor of Arts degree fromWellesley College in 1972 and aJuris Doctor from theUniversity of Southern California Law School in 1975. She was alaw clerk for JudgeJohn Minor Wisdom of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1975 to 1976. She was legal counsel to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, United States Senate Judiciary Committee from 1976 to 1978. She was in private practice inCalifornia from 1978 to 1982. She was anAssistant United States Attorney of the Central District of California from 1982 to 1990. She was a judge on the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1990 to 1992, and on the Los Angeles Superior Court from 1992 to 1994. She was a Justice Pro Tem, California Court of Appeal in 1992. She was theUnited States Attorney for the Central District of California from 1994 to 1998.

Manella first expressed an interest in serving as a judge on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1995, when she wrote a June 7, 1995 letter to senior presidential advisorGeorge Stephanopoulos expressing her interest in such a seat.^[5]

Manella never was nominated to the Ninth Circuit. Instead, on March 31, 1998, PresidentBill Clinton nominated Manella to be a United States District Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California that had been vacated byMariana Pfaelzer. She was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on October 21, 1998, and received her judicial commission on October 22, 1998. Manella served in that capacity until May 21, 2006, when she resigned to join the California Court of Appeal, where she served in the 2nd District until her retirement on January 31, 2023.

While sitting on the California Court of Appeal, Manella wrote for a unanimous panel thataffirmed the 2012 conviction of Los Angeles police officer Stephanie Lazarus forthe murder of a former boyfriend's wife.^[6]

Manella's father, Arthur Manella, was a tax lawyer and a founding partner ofIrell & Manella.

• Nora Margaret Manella at theBiographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of theFederal Judicial Center.

• 1951 births
• Living people
• Assistant United States attorneys
• Judges of the California Courts of Appeal
• Judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
• Lawyers from Los Angeles
• Superior court judges in the United States
• United States attorneys for the Central District of California
• United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
• USC Gould School of Law alumni
• 20th-century California state court judges
• 21st-century American judges
• 20th-century American women judges
• 21st-century American women judges

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• FJC Bio template with ID same as Wikidata
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges