Thursday, October 9, 2003
Page 1
Janet Frangie Named to San Bernardino Superior Court
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Gray Davis yesterday named a Los Angeles County lawyer to the San Bernardino Superior Court.
The governor also named a Riverside attorney to that court, a Riverside Superior Court Commissioner to the Riverside Superior Court, and a former Madera Justice Court judge to the Madera Superior Court.
Janet M. Frangie of the Sherman Oaks firm of Narvid Scott Schwartz & Frangie was named to replace San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Michael Morris, who retired.
Frangie, 49, lives in Monrovia and has been active for nearly 20 years with the Los Angeles County Bar Association delegation to the Conference of Delegates of California Bar Associations (previously the State Bar Conference of Delegates). She served this year as the delegation’s chair.
Frangie said she chose to seek appointment to the San Bernardino bench because “there were a lot of applications and less openings in Los Angeles.” She said she does not yet know where she will be assigned, but hopes it will be close to her home.
Her commute, if to a nearby courthouse, would not be much longer than to her current office, she noted.
“I’ll be happy to serve anywhere,” she declared, adding that she has practiced family law, real estate law, business law, and criminal law and would feel comfortable in any judicial setting.
Attorney Patricia Daehnke of Bonne, Bridges, Mueller, O’Keefe & Nichols described Frangie as a “consensus builder” who is both receptive to the views of others and willing to state her own opinion strongly. Daehnke, who served as vice chair of the delegation this year, added:
“Janet will be a wonderful judge wherever she’s appointed.”
Frangie has been with her current firm since 1984, and previously worked with the firm of Horn & Hoppe from 1979 to 1984.
She has served as a family law mediator and a judge pro tem.
She earned her undergraduate degree from Michigan State University and her law degree from Loyola Law School.
Also named to the San Bernardino Superior Court yesterday was plaintiff’s personal injury trial lawyer Bryan F. Foster, 55, a sole practitioner who was previously a partner with Foster, Driscoll and Reynolds. Foster, whose law degree is from the University of San Francisco, replaces Judge Sylvia Husing, who retired.
Commissioner Bernard J. Schwartz, 43, was named to the Riverside Superior Court. Schwartz was appointed a commissioner in 2000.
He was a partner in Johnston and Schwartz, specializing in criminal defense, at the time of his appointment as commissioner and was previously a Riverside deputy public defender.
He earned his law degree at McGeorge School of Law and will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Ronald L. Taylor.
James E. Oakley, 50, was named to the Madera Superior Court. He was a Justice Court judge from 1986 to 1988 and is a former mayor of Madera.
Oakley is in private practice, but has served as a Fresno deputy city attorney, a Fresno deputy district attorney, and as a Madera deputy and assistant district attorney.
He earned his law degree from Pepperdine and will replace Judge Roger Wayne, who retired.
Copyright 2003, Metropolitan News Company