Hon. Isabel Apkarian is a judge for the Orange County Superior Court in California. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Gavin Newsom on March 25, 2021 to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Franz E. Miller (Ret.).
Since assuming the bench, Apkarian has presided on the Juvenile Panel.
Prior to her appointment, she had briefly served as commissioner of the Superior Court in Orange County, joining the court earlier that same year.
Before that, Apkarian worked for seventeen years as a senior deputy public defender with the Orange County Public Defender’s Office starting in 2003.
She received a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton. Apkarian went on to complete a J.D. at Whittier Law School.
She spent time as a budget management research analyst in the Orange County Executive’s Office (1998 to 1999) before beginning her legal career. Apkarian was admitted to practice in California in 2002.
She is registered as a Democrat.