Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Steve earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 2000. During college, he interned for a Public Defenders Office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and spent a semester interning for Senator (then Congressman) Benjamin Cardin in Washington, D.C.

After college, Steve served as the Deputy Executive Director for Honolulu Habitat for Humanity where he helped develop a 45 home subdivision for low income Native Hawaiians. In 2005 he graduated from the University of Hawai'i with a JD/MBA. During law school, he worked as a Research Assistant on a Land Use textbook and also put together and led a team that won the business school's $45,000 business plan competition.

After graduating from law school and business school, Steve commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the Army JAG Corps. He is a graduate of the Army Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, as well as the Command and General Staff College and Airborne School.  He currently holds the rank of Lt. Colonel and his service includes two tours in Iraq (2009-2010 with the 89th Military Police Brigade as a felony prosecutor and 2017-2018 as the primary Legal Advisor to the Commander for the Special Operations Joint Task Force combating ISIS in Iraq).  He also served from 2007-2008 on active duty as a felony criminal defense attorney for the Army.

In his civilian life, Steve worked for private law firms in Chicago and Los Angeles before joining the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office in 2012. Since joining the office, Steve has prosecuted murders, child molesters, domestic violence and other violent crimes as well as complex white-collar crimes in courthouses throughout the county.

Steve Morgan was a founder and former Chair of the Armed Forces Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.  This special committee provides pro bono legal services to veterans.

In addition to his work inside the courtroom, Steve has served as an Adjunct Professor at The John Marshall School of Law in Chicago where he taught Appellate Writing and Oral Advocacy.

In Los Angeles, Steve has taught first year Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, First Amendment, as well as legal research and writing courses at Abraham Lincoln University School of Law.

Steve Morgan and his wife Jenny are parents of a new baby, Emily.  Jenny is originally from South Korea and they love to visit as often as possible;  they just recently went to South Korea to celebrate Emily’s first birthday.   The family lives in Central Los Angeles.

Myanna Dellinger, M.Sc., J.D., PhD candidate (Political Science, 2020), graduated at the top of her law school class, Order of the Coif.  She has worked on thousands of cases with state and federal judges at the trial and appellate levels including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Myanna is currently a law professor teaching Human Rights (including Civil Rights), Contracts, Sales, and Public International Law.  She researches and writes extensively on the intersection between climate change and business law and policy as well as endangered species law and policy.  

Myanna started and hosts the Global Energy and Environmental Law Podcast, which has had more than 100,000 listeners.  Originally from Denmark, Professor Dellinger has lived and worked in four countries on three continents.  She has visited 37 nations for business and pleasure.  She and her husband live in Eagle Rock (Los Angeles).  Orginally from Denmark, Myanna moved to Southern California in 1997.

The bench in LA needs diverse, progressive judges from a variety of backgrounds who are not just interested in the position for power and prestige. I wish to contribute to LA County and its people with my worldly insight and unique training.  Being a judge will be a suitable professional challenge for me at this point and in the future. I am very good at working with the law in a neutral manner as a law professor. I have great people skills.  

Notice that a judgeship is a non-partisan non-political position and that we are not allowed to issue opinions about matters which may come before is as judges.  Further, there is only so much a judge can do to solve societal issues, but the following are some of my main concerns about LA society today.

Power structures, including the government, need to be much more inclusive of women, immigrants, low- and middle-income earners, educators, and other people from a “non-traditional” background including people of color and LGBT people.  I run to help remedy this defect.  Roe v. Wade must be upheld by the judiciary and women’s rights to decide over their own bodies protected in other ways as well.  

The homelessness issue in LA and beyond needs to be redressed in a fair way without further delay. While there are, as mentioned, limits to what judges can do in this context, there are times when judges can, under the common law, create new solutions. For example, a judge recently held that the belongings of homeless people cannot just be discarded when streets are cleared.  That gave some dignity back to homeless people and I applaud that. Another judge created much initial attention to the issue by creating a running club in the “Skid Row” area. Even off the bench, judges stand out and should use that role to help society progress.

Environmental justice and climate change are crucially and urgently important.  As we have seen from Greta Thunberg, our students and other young people can help direct much needed attention to these issues.  We should protect their right to protest peacefully and, at the same time, remain active students progressing with their studies. Common law judges in this nation are behind those in other nations when it comes to ruling for environmental progress based on notions of human rights and constitutional issues. As a human rights expert, I would listen carefully to facts and arguments under that body of law and, of course, the constitution which actually support more progress as some judges in this nation are also beginning to recognize.