Candidate for
Judge of the Superior Court; County of Riverside; Office 3

Judge Mark A. Cope has been a judge in Riverside County since 1995. He currently serves as Presiding Judge of the Riverside Superior Court.

Judge Cope was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson as a judge of the Three Lakes Municipal Court in 1995. He was then elected to that position in March, 1996, and has been unopposed for election since then. During his service on the Three Lakes Municipal bench, Judge Cope served as presiding judge of that court as well as serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the Riverside County Consolidated and Coordinated Courts.

Judge Cope was elevated to the Riverside Superior Court upon unification of the superior and municipal courts in 1998. Since appointment to the bench, he has handled every type of case except for probate cases, and has presided over numerous calendars in those cases-types. Those duties have included presiding over hundreds of criminal trials, preliminary hearings and other calendars (including everything from traffic cases to death penalty cases), civil trials, family law calendars and trials, juvenile delinquency calendars and trials, unlawful detainers (evictions), small claims and small claims appeals, and civil harassment restraining order calendars. While on the Superior Court bench he has also served in various administrative positions, including assistant supervising judge and supervising judge, assistant presiding judge, and as a member of the court's executive committee at various times.

Prior to appointment to the bench, Judge Cope served as a prosecutor as a Deputy District Attorney in Riverside County and Clark County, Nevada. He was also a partner of the law firm of Bell and Davidson in Las Vegas, Nevada, focusing on criminal defense and domestic law.

After high school in Las Vegas, Judge Cope served a two-year mission for the LDS Church in Germany. He graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and then returned there to the J. Reuben Clark Law School, from which he graduated in 1986. He became a member of the California Bar later that year and of the Nevada Bar in 1988. Judge Cope and his wife are the parents of six children, which has lead to extensive involvement in scouting, community and school activities.

Along with his duties as the court's Presiding Judge, Judge Cope has been extensively involved with statewide efforts related to trial court budgets and funding. He serves on the Judicial Council Trial Court Budget Advisory Committee, and has participated in former and current committees making recommendations about funding methodology. These efforts have contributed to the adoption by the Judicial Council of a funding methodology based upon case filings and workloads, and change which will far more equitably fund the fast-growing counties of the Inland Empire, particularly Riverside. Judge Cope also serves on other Judicial Council subcommittees addressing funding for interpreter services, complex civil litigation, and courts with geographic challenges.

Judge Cope has been active in the education of judges, both state-wide and in Riverside County. He served as a member of the state-wide Juvenile Law Education Committee from 2007-2009, and as the chair of that committee's replacement, the Juvenile Law Curriculum Committee, from 2010 through 2012. During those years he has been the instructor and administrator for various juvenile law educational programs.

Beginning with service as the chair of the committee charged with the judicial oversight of the construction of the Southwest Justice Center, Judge Cope has been extensively involved with courthouse construction throughout California. The Southwest Justice Center is a 12 courtroom, 186,000 square foot courthouse situated in the Riverside County area outside Murrieta, California. As the chair of that oversight committee, Judge Cope was responsible for the day-to-day decisions related to the construction of that facility. He also served on the first Court Facilities Transitional Task Force, which was formed by the California Judicial Council to implement the transition of courthouse ownership from the counties to the state courts. He currently serves as the chair of the Banning Justice Center Project Advisory Group, as well as serving as a member of the Project Advisory Groups for the Indio Family and Juvenile Law Courthouse and the Mid-County Civil Courthouse, construction of which will begin later this decade.