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Judges Beckloff, Groman, Palazuelos to Retire
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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MITCHELL BECKLOFF |
DONNA GROMAN Superior Court judges |
YVETTE PALAZUELOS |
Three Los Angeles Superior Court judges—Mitchell L. Beckloff, Donna Quigley Groman, and Yvette M. Palazuelos, have set retirement dates.
Two of them, Beckloff and Groman, were in law practice together from 1994-99 in the Santa Monica firm of Groman and Beckloff.
Beckloff—who presides over writ petitions in Department 86 of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse—will leave the bench on April 5. He was appointed to his post by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in May 2007.
At the time, Beckloff was a court commissioner, having been elected by judges in 2001. He had served as a referee from 1998 to 2001.
From 1989-92, he was an associate in the law firm of Pillsbury, Madison, and Sutro, then became an attorney with Auxiliary Legal Services.
He earned his law degree at Loyola where he was editor of the law review.
Groman’s Retirement Date
Groman’s last day on the bench will be March 25 and she will officially retire the following day.
She was elected to the bench in 2004, defeating then-Deputy District Attorney Judy Meyer (who gained election to the Superior Court two years later). At the time, Groman was a court commissioner, a position she had held since 1999, after two years as a referee.
Before she and Beckloff formed a partnership, she was a member of the Law Offices of Jo Kaplan for four years, preceded by 10 years as a sole practitioner, handling juvenile custody and delinquency cases.
In 2018, she received the Judicial Council’s Distinguished Service Award .
Her law degree is from American University Washington College of Law.
Palazuelos’s Departure
Palazuelos— who presided over the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial—will hang up her robe on March 29 and, after using earned vacation days, will officially retire on May 15.
She was appointed by then-Gov. Gray Davis in June 2000. She was, at the time, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California.
Her law degree is from Columbia.
Commissioner Robert A. McSorley’s last day on the bench was Feb. 13 and he will officially retire on March 29. He is apt to be replaced by family law practitioner Sonia Dujan who is second on the list of eligible applicants, rated by a committee.
Topping the list is Amanda Park, who has been an attorney with the Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department for more than 25 years. It is anticipated that she will be elected, in balloting that ends Tuesday, to replace Jeffrey M. Harkavy who retired as a commissioner.
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