2026 Recipient of the Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler Award

Hon. Autumn D. Spaeth

AUTUMN D. SPAETH is a United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court, Central District of California. Judge Spaeth sits in the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana.

Prior to her appointment as a Magistrate Judge, Judge Spaeth was a founding partner of Smiley Wang-Ekvall, LLP. Her practice concentrated on business litigation and insolvency matters, with a specialization in bankruptcy related litigation. Judge Spaeth started her legal career practicing intellectual property and business litigation at McDermott, Will & Emery’s Orange County office, and insolvency and business litigation at Costa Mesa insolvency boutique Albert, Weiland & Golden, LLP (aka Weiland, Golden, Smiley, Wang Ekvall & Strok, LLP), where she worked with Stotler Award recipients Hon. Theodor C. Albert (2025) and Lei Lei Wang Ekvall (2022).

Judge Spaeth currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association as the Ninth Circuit Director, on the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, on the Board of Directors of the Federal Bar Association, Orange County Chapter, and as a member of the Ninth Circuit Public Information and Community Outreach Committee. Judge Spaeth previously served as Chair of the Ninth Circuit Conference Executive Committee.

Prior to taking the bench, Judge Spaeth served on the Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee, including as its Chair, and served as Co-Chair of the Central District of California Lawyer Representatives to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. She served on the Board of Directors for the Orange County Bar Association, where she also previously served as Chair of the Commercial Law & Bankruptcy Section and Chair of the Legislative Resolutions Committee. In private practice, Judge Spaeth was an active member of a number of other bar organizations.

Judge Spaeth received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California Los Angeles. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a Juris Doctor from the Law School and a Master of Arts in Communication Management from the Annenberg School of Communication.

As an undergraduate, Judge Spaeth worked in recruiting for the UCLA Athletic Department. As a law student, Judge Spaeth was a research assistant and teaching assistant for Professor Erwin Chemerinsky. She was a clinical student in USC’s Post-Conviction Justice Project and served as the Notes Editor for the Southern California Law Review.