Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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Ninth Circuit Appoints Two New Bankruptcy Judges
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Judges of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have appointed two Los Angeles attorneys to serve as judges of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said yesterday.
Contingent upon approval of background clearances, Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Bauer will fill a vacancy created by the April 2008 retirement of Judge Mitchell Goldberg, and DLA Piper associate Deborah J. Saltzman will fill a vacancy created by the September 2008 retirement of Judge David Naugle.
Bauer, 49, joined the U.S. attorney’s office in 2001, and represents the federal government in all civil, non-tax bankruptcy matters in consumer and commercial cases in every chapter of bankruptcy in the Central District.
A native of San Antonio, Texas, she was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1985 after graduating from UCLA and the USC Gould School of Law, and she represented Bank of America in bankruptcy proceedings for 15 years.
Bauer has served on the Central District’s bankruptcy mediation panel since 1995, and helped form Public Counsel’s Debtor Assistance Project, which provides legal assistance to low-income families and individuals.
She is former vice chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section’s Bankruptcy Committee, and an active member of the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation, the American Bar Association, the National Civil Trial Competition, the Federal Executive Board, and Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles.
Saltzman, 39, is a native of New York City and has practiced bankruptcy law for the last 10 years in the Los Angeles area.
An associate with DLA Piper since last year, she represents secured and unsecured creditors, creditors’ committees, debtors and equity holders in bankruptcy and out-of-court restructurings. Her practice includes negotiating out-of-court restructurings, bankruptcy plans of reorganization, debtor-in-possession financing, and handling complex intercreditor issues.
Saltzman was admitted to the State Bar in 1996, and graduated from Amherst College and the University of Virginia School of Law before beginning her career as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP.
She moved to Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP in 2000, but returned to O’Melveny & Myers the following year before joining Hennigan Bennett & Dorman LLP in 2006.
Saltzman has taught a continuing education program on bankruptcy and restructuring, and is a mentor to young people involved in the local chapter of the Young Storytellers Foundation.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District serves seven Southern California counties. The court is authorized 24 judges, including three authorized temporary judgeships, and received 65,856 bankruptcy filings in 2008.
Judges of the Ninth Circuit have statutory responsibility for selecting and appointing bankruptcy judges in the nine Western states that comprise the Ninth Circuit. The court uses a comprehensive merit selection process for the initial appointment and for reappointments.
Bankruptcy judges serve a 14-year renewable term at a salary of $160,080, and handle all bankruptcy-related matters under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
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