Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Page 1
Governor Brown Names 23 Trial Judges, Including Nine in Los Angeles County
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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FERNANDO AENLLE-ROCHA Lawyer |
NEETU S. BADHAN-SMITH Los Angeles Deputy Public Defender |
ROBERT S. HARRISON Lawyer |
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SARAH J. HEIDEL Assistant U.S. Attorney |
GUS T. MAY Lawyer |
RUBIYA NURI Lawyer |
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NANCY A. RAMIREZ Superior Court Commissioner |
LYNN H. SCADUTO Assistant U.S. Attorney |
J. CHRISTOPHER SMITH Superior Court Commissioner |
Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday named 23 persons to serve as trial judges, including nine who will sit on the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The nine are Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, Robert S. Harrison, Sarah J. Heidel, Gus T. May, Rubiya Nur, Nancy A. Ramirez, Lynn H. Scaduto, Neetu S. Badhan-Smith and J. Christopher Smith.
Aenlle-Rocha, 55, has been a partner at White and Case LLP since 2005. He was at two other firms between 1999 and 2005, and was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida from 1990 to 1994 and for the Central District of California from 1994 to 1999. He was a Los Angeles deputy district attorney from 1987 to 1990 and is a graduate of Princeton University and UC Berkeley School of Law.
He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Jane L. Johnson.
Harrison, 59, has served as a commissioner of the Los Angeles Superior Court since 2006. He was a partner at Harrison and Harrison and a part-time hearing officer for the Los Angeles Police Department Board of Rights from 1994 to 2006 and an associate at Saltzburg, Ray and Bergman LLP from 1984 to 1994.
A graduate of UCLA and Loyola Law School, he fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Jeffrey K. Winikow.
Heidel, 42, has served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California since 2005.
She was an associate at Sidley Austin from 2001 to 2005 and served as a law clerk to Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge—now Senior Judge—Ferdinand F. Fernandez from 2000 to 2001. Heidel graduated from Williams College and UC Davis School of Law, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Emilie H. Elias.
May, 52, has been vice president of legal services at Bet Tzedek Legal Services since 2016, and was directing attorney there from 2001 to 2016.He was legal director at Public Interest Investigations from 1999 to 2001 and served as a law clerk to since-retired U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California from 1998 to 1999.
His previous positions included litigation director at the Center for Law in the Public Interest from 1996 to 1998, He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Northeastern University School of Law, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Robert E. Willett.
Nur, 52, has been a sole practitioner since 2008. She served as a Los Angeles deputy public defender from 2001 to 2008.
Nur is a graduate of California State University, San Bernardino and Southwestern Law School, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Peter P. Espinoza.
Ramirez, 52, has served as a commissioner of the Los Angeles Superior Court since 2014. She was western regional counsel at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 2007 to 2014, and staff attorney there from 1991 to 1997.
Her previous positions included managing attorney and later executive director at the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, assistant director for outreach for the California Complete Count Campaign, and district director and later Washington, D.C. director for U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Tia G. Fisher.
Scaduto, 46, has served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California since 2011. She was an associate at Munger, Tolles and Olson LLP from 2000 to 2011.
Scaduto’s undergraduate and law degrees are from UCLA. She fills the vacancy created by the death of Judge Daniel L. Brenner.
Badhan-Smith, 40, as served as a Los Angeles deputy public defender since 2004. She was an attorney at the Southern California Housing Rights Center from 2003 to 2004.
A graduate of UCLA and Southwestern Law School, Badhan-Smith fills the vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position.
Smith, 50, has served as a commissioner of the Los Angeles Superior Court since 2015. He was a sole practitioner from 2008 to 2015 and was lead staff attorney at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law Institute for Administrative Justice’s California Parole Advocacy Program from 2005 to 2008.
His previous positions included service as a Los Angeles deputy public defender from 1997 to 2004. He is a graduate of UCLA and Mercer University School of Law, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Russell S. Kussman.
Appointees in other counties are:
•Laura S. Woods, 53, a criminal defense attorney, to the Tehama Superior Court;
•Gregory J. Elvine-Kreis, 47, supervising attorney at the Humboldt County Public Defender’s Office, to the Humboldt County Superior Court;
•Kern Deputy Public Defender Gloria J. Cannon, 48, to the Kern Superior Court;
•Shasta Superior Court Commissioner Daryl E. Kennedy, 59, and sole practitioner Adam B. Ryan, 46, as judges of the Shasta Superior Court;
•Tana L. Coates, 58, partner at Coates and Coates LLP in San Luis Obispo, to the San Luis Obispo Superior Court;
•Benjamin T. Reyes II, 51, a principal at Meyers, Nave, Riback, Silver and Wilson PLC and Wade M. Rhyne, 41, a trial attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to the Contra Costa Superior Court;
•Somnath Raj Chatterjee, 47, a partner at Antolin Agarwal and Chatterjee LLP, to the Alameda Superior Court;
•Santa Cruz Superior Court Commissioner Kim E. Baskett, 64, to a judgeship on that court;
•San Bernardino County Superior Court Commissioner Winston S. Keh, 54 and sole practitioner Antoine F. Raphael, 47, to judgeships on the San Bernardino Superior Court; and
•Assistant District Attorney Carol L. Henson, 55, and Senior Deputy Alternate Defender Antony C. Ufland, 51, to the Orange Superior Court;
The compensation for each of these positions is $191,612.
Aenlle-Rocha, Woods, Ryan, Keh, and Henson are Republicans. Rhyne is registered without party preference, and the other appointees are Democrats.
Copyright 2017, Metropolitan News Company