Hon. Sandra Ruth Klein

Hon. Sandra R. Klein is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, appointed April 22, 2011. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she worked for more than 13 years for the U.S. Department of Justice for 13 years, including as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting bankruptcy fraud and other white-collar crimes, and as the Acting Deputy Director of the U.S. Trustee Program?s Office of Criminal Enforcement, which assists with bankruptcy fraud investigations and prosecutions across the country. She also was a litigation associate with O?Melveny & Myers LLP and began her legal career as a judicial law clerk to Hon. Lourdes G. Baird of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and Hon. Arthur L. Alarcón of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Klein has served as chairperson of her court?s Community Outreach Committee since its inception in 2013, and as a member of the Ninth Circuit Public Information and Community Outreach Committee since 2015. She also is co-chairperson of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, and a member of the Federal Bar Association, the Los Angeles Chapter?s Board of Directors, the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum?s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and the Loyola Law School Board of Governors. From 2010-20, she was a member of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (WLALA) Board of Governors. Judge Klein is a co-founder and co-leader of a Girl Scout troop for girls experiencing homelessness, and she created and implemented the Girl Scout Justice Patch Program to teach girls about legal history, legislation, justice, and the role of lawyers and judges in the community. She has received numerous awards, including the 2021 NCBJ President?s Award for Exceptional Service, the 2019 Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles Woman of Distinction Award, the 2018 NCBJ Public Outreach Award and the 2018 WLALA Distinguished Service Award. Judge Klein received her Bachelor?s degree magna cum laude in music education from the University of Lowell in Massachusetts, her J.D. magna cum laude from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where she was admitted to the Order of the Coif and served as a senior note and comment editor for the Loyola International and Comparative Law Journal, and her M.B.A. with honors from UCLA?s Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles.