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Dec. 12, 2025

Inglewood Commissioner Joel Koury brings calm, clarity -- and deep breaths -- to court

Commissioner Joel C. Koury begins every calendar not with case numbers but with a request: breathe. His courtroom philosophy blends discipline, empathy, and a refusal to let proceedings devolve into combat. Koury's methods -- from de-escalation rituals to blunt trial education -- have reshaped how litigants experience small claims and eviction cases in Inglewood.

Read more about Joel C. Koury...
Inglewood Commissioner Joel Koury brings calm, clarity -- and deep breaths -- to court

Joel C. Koury

Los Angeles County Superior Court

Career Highlights: Appointed commissioner, Los Angeles County, Sept. 3, 2024; sole practitioner, 2010-2024; senior trial attorney, trainer, deputy federal public defender, Los Angeles, 2008-10; deputy public defender, Los Angeles, 1990-2008

Law School: Loyola Law School, 1989
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INGLEWOOD - The first thing Superior Court Commissioner Joel C. Koury asks of a room full of strangers is not their name, case number, or claim.

"Everybody take a deep breath in, hold it, let it out," he said on a crowded small claims Friday morning. When only a few complied, he pressed again. "I'm looking at a lot of faces, and I don't see anybody taking a really deep breath."

For Koury, breath is the hinge between panic and clarit... (continued)

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