Candidate Profiles: Ybarra running for judge
For The Madera Tribune
Alaina Ybarra.
Before she even knew it, Alaina Ybarra had a calling to the Judicial System. Like most of her family, Ybarra was raised in Madera. As a child, she grew up in a regular middle class neighborhood. Unfortunately, by the 1990s, the area had started to become crime-ridden and gang-infested. Several times over the course of her childhood, Alaina and her family became victims of burglaries of their home, forcing them to feel unsafe and having to live with bars on their windows to keep out the crime. It was then she knew that she had to become part of the solution to the problems plaguing the neighborhood and our little town.
In high school, Ybarra became interested in the criminal justice system. She attended Madera High School and graduated in 1997 with the hopes of attending college and joining the fight against crime. Having limited funds, Ybarra decided to attend community college. Still feeling the overwhelming desire to be a part of something important, she decided to join the United States Air Force on active duty in 2000, following after her brother who had joined the United States Marine Corps a few years earlier.
After basic and technical training, Ybarra was then immediately stationed in Ramstein, Germany, where she honorably served overseas during the 9/11 attacks and the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. While serving overseas, she earned numerous accolades and decorations, including Airman of the Year, and also achieved all of her ranks ahead of her peers.
In 2002/2003, recognizing Ybarra’s strengths and potential, the USAF then transferred her to Pearl Harbor Naval Station in Oahu, Hawaii, where she served in a joint intelligence squadron with a Top Secret security clearance. While on active duty, she attended college classes in the evenings, earning her AA in Information Systems and BA in Criminal Justice.
In 2005, Ybarra was honorably discharged from the military at the rank of Staff Sergeant, in pursuit of attending law school. Eager to gain legal experience, she began working as a legal assistant at the Dunnion Law Firm, using her off time to study for the LSAT and apply to law school.
In 2006, she was awarded an academic scholarship and accepted enrollment into the University of San Diego School of Law. While attending law school full-time, Ybarra worked in the Admissions Office and the law firm of Higgs, Fletcher & Mack from approximately 2006 to 2008. In 2008, she interned with the San Diego City Attorney’s Office. In 2009, she interned at the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office until she earned her Juris Doctor in 2009.
Upon graduating from law school, Ybarra was then offered a job at the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, downtown branch, where she prosecuted felonies in the Major Narcotics Unit and the Superior Court Unit (general felonies).
In 2011, she returned home to the valley and became a Deputy District Attorney in the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office until 2012. Since 2012, she has been in private practice, servicing Madera residents in the areas of civil litigation, family law, probate, and criminal defense. Currently, Ybarra runs her own business/law firm, the Law Office of Alaina N. Ybarra. Practicing in the private arena has allowed her to expand her dream of reaching and helping others in need, whether it be a parent in need of guidance and assistance in the family law court, a business in need of civil law wisdom, or a individual citizen in need of protection of their constitutional rights in the criminal court — Ybarra believes in integrity, service before self, and excellence in all she does. She also continues her efforts in serving the community by providing hundreds of hours of pro bono work to indigent and low-income Madera residents every year.
Ybarra’s diverse life and work experience make her the right choice for Madera County Superior Court Judge. She is a choice that the Madera residents can put their trust and confidence in to conduct herself in an impartial, unbiased, and just manner.
