Friday, May 10, 2002
Page 3
Davis Names David Oberholtzer to San Diego Superior Court
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A former Navy pilot who parlayed his Annapolis education and his naval expertise into an admiralty law career in Baltimore, then launched a transit firm in California, was named to the San Diego Superior Court yesterday by Gov. Gray Davis.
David B. Oberholtzer, 53, said he expected to be on the bench by next week after a 15-year tenure at the San Diego law firm of Post, Kirby, Noonan & Sweat.
“This is a 25-person firm, so there should be no problem having someone taking over my files,” Oberholtzer explained. “It’s going to be difficult for me to leave the practice of law because I’ve enjoyed it, but I’m looking forward to being a judge. It’s the culmination of my career.”
A Wisconsin native, Oberholtzer graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and served active duty as a naval aviator from 1970 to 1978. He returned to Wisconsin for his law degree, graduating from the University of Wisconsin’s law school and becoming a member of the Wisconsin bar.
He then went back to Maryland, passed that state’s bar exam and went to work in the Baltimore firm of Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver. He said he felt at home in the firm’s admiralty department, where “they were all veterans.”
Several of his friends persuaded him to join them in starting a trucking firm in San Diego in 1983, and he began working for San Diego Express, Inc. while studying for the California bar exam. On passing the test he became general counsel for the company.
Oberholtzer joined Hillsinger & Constanzo in 1985 and practiced insurance defense, then joined Post, Kirby in 1987.
He fills a seat that has been vacant since Oct. 3, when Judith McConnell was sworn in as a justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s Div. one.
Superior Court judges in California earn $136,224 a year.
Copyright 2002, Metropolitan News Company