Judge Jean Dandona was born at West Point, New York, and raised in a military family. After graduating from West Anchorage High School, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) and secondary teaching credential from the University of California at Santa Barbara. In 1978 she graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (Order of the Coif, Thurston Society).

Judge Dandona is currently the Santa Barbara juvenile judge and presides over the Santa Barbara juvenile justice/delinquency and dependency courts. She also presides over the Mental Health, Dual Diagnosis, Proposition 36, Clean and Sober, Substance Abuse, and Restorative Court treatment courts.

She was previously assigned to a felony and misdemeanor trial calendar, the Appellate Division, and the Veterans Treatment Court.

Judge Dandona was appointed Judge of the Superior Court in 2008 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She was a civil litigator for twenty years in the fields of personal injury, wrongful death, product liability, professional liability, business, real property, contract, and construction law. She served as a court-appointed arbitrator and settlement master. In 1999 she became a research attorney for the Santa Barbara Superior Court and was the Santa Barbara supervising research attorney from 2001 to 2008.