William C. Doran was an associate justice of the California Court of Appeal

California Court of Appeal

The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided into six appellate districts...

, Second Appellate District, Division 1, from October 14, 1935, until 1958. He was born December 21, 1884, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and died January 23, 1965, in Los Angeles, California.

Doran received his law degree from the University of Southern California Law School

University of Southern California Law School

The University of Southern California Law School , located in Los Angeles, California, is a law school within the University of Southern California...

 in 1907 and was admitted to the bar in July of that year. He was a deputy district attorney

District attorney

In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...

 in Los Angeles County from 1910 to 1917 and chief deputy from 1917 to 1923, when he was made a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court

Superior court

In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...

, a position he held from January 2, 1923 to October 13, 1935.