Judge Nash to Forego Bid for Reelection

Monday, January 27, 2014

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Judge Nash to Forego Bid for Reelection

By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer

MICHAEL NASH

Superior Court Judge

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Nash, the presiding judge of the Juvenile Court for more than 16 years, said Friday he will not seek re-election.

Nash, who previously told the MetNews he was undecided whether to file for a new six-year term, said that after nearly 29 years on the court, it was time to search out “whatever other opportunities may come my way.” He said he had no specific plan, but that “life has just always worked out” for him.

Today is the first day that judicial candidates can file declarations of intent to run in the June primary. Deputy District Attorney Dayan Mathai Thursday became the first candidate to take out papers to run for Nash’s seat.

Might Not Finish Term

Nash said he had made no decision on whether to retire, or to serve out his term, which expires in January of next year. “It was enough of a hump to get to this point,” he said.

A graduate of UCLA and Loyola University School of Law, Nash was a California deputy attorney general from 1974 to 1985 and one of the prosecutors in the Hillside Strangler case between 1981 and 1983. He was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1985 and elevated to the Superior Court in 1989.

He has been a juvenile court judge since 1990 and was named Juvenile Court presiding judge in 1995. He has held the post ever since, with the exception of a period of about two years as the Dependency Court supervising judge, ending in 2001.

Closing a Chapter

He is the immediate past president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, whose board he has served on for more than a decade. This will be his last year on the board, he explained Friday, so “a lot of things are coming to an end at once.”

He has also been president of the Juvenile Court Judges of California, and a member of the California Child Welfare Council, and the Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care.

He was a member of the Judicial Council of California between 2003 and 2006.

His many awards include being named “Judge of the Year” by the National CASA Association in 2006, the Stanley Mosk Legacy of Justice Award by the San Fernando Valley Bar Association in 2007, the Extraordinary Service to Children Award by the Children’s Institute in 2008, and the Valley Community Legal Foundation’s Pearl Vogel Award in 2011.