Simpson, who became a Glendale Municipal Court judge in 1994 and joined the Superior Court through unification last year, was granted disability retirement, effective Dec. 10 of last year.

Simpson has been under preliminary investigation by the Commission on Judicial Performance. His attorney, Edward George, said he did not know whether the commission would still pursue the investigation, which centers on charges that Simpson attempted to influence court commissioners in their handling of traffic cases involving friends of the judge.

Other allegations are that Simpson discussed personal business on the telephone while court was in session, and that he stood in his chambers bathroom "urinating with the door wide open" after giving his court clerk permission to enter.

There are four vacancies on the 28-judge court, the most recent one occurring when Judge Procter Hug Jr. took senior status Jan. 1.

Judge James Browning took senior status Sept. 1 of last year. Previous vacancies resulted when Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall took senior status Aug. 31, 1997 and when the late Judge Charles E. Wiggins took senior status Dec. 31, 1996.

President Bush resubmitted the nominations of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl and Hawaii attorney and Republican activist Richard R. Clifton on Sept. 4.

Kuhl and Clifton were originally nominated June 22. The nominations were returned to the president on Aug. 3 when a disagreement over other nominees resulted in the Senate returning all pending nominations.

Senate rules require that all pending nominations be returned to the president when the Senate goes into recess absent unanimous consent.

Kuhl, 48, is a six-year veteran of the Superior Court bench. She previously served in the U.S. Department of Justice as a special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith, and worked in the office of the solicitor general during the Reagan administration.

Kuhl has not received a confirmation hearing.

President Clinton's nominees for the Hall and Wiggins seats, attorneys Joseph Duffy Jr. of Honolulu and Barry Goode of San Francisco, never received confirmation hearings. Goode now serves as legal affairs secretary to Gov. Gray Davis.

Los Angeles attorneys John Walter and Percy Anderson were nominated last week by President Bush to fill two of the six vacancies on the court.

There are no vacancies.

Six justices were confirmed and sworn in Jan. 25.

Justices James Marchiano of Div. One and Laurence D. Kay of Div. Four were made presiding justices of those divisions, succeeding Gary Strankman and Daniel Hanlon, respectively. Strankman retired July 31 of last year and Hanlon retired Dec. 31, 2000.

Sandra L. Margulies succeeds Marchiano as associate justice and Marie P. Rivera succeeds Kay. Margulies was elevated from the Alameda Superior Court and Rivera from the Contra Costa Superior Court.

Stuart Pollak was elevated from the San Francisco Superior Court to succeed Justice Herbert W. Walker, who retired from Div. Three at the end of March.

Linda M. Gemello was elevated from the San Mateo Superior Court to fill a new position in Div. Five created by Senate Bill 1857.

There is one vacancy in newly created Div. Eight. Among those who have been evaluated by the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation and could be appointed to that post are Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Gregory Alarcon, Laurie Zelon and Madeline Flier and Ventura Superior Court Judge Melinda Johnson.

Third District

Fourth District

Orange Superior Court Judge Richard Fybel, nominated last month to fill a new position in Div. Three, faces a confirmation hearing on Feb. 8.

Divs. One and Div. Two each have a vacancy created by SB 1857. Div. Three has another vacancy created by the June 1 retirement of Justice Thomas Crosby.

Fifth District

There is one vacancy, a newly created position under SB 1857.

Sixth District

Conrad Rushing, elevated from the Santa Clara Superior Court, was confirmed Jan. 25 to fill a new position.

Presiding Justice Christopher Cottle retired Aug. 31. Justice Patricia Bamattre-Manoukian is the acting presiding justice.

Judge Harold Shabo retires today, bringing the number of vacancies on the court to 16.

Previous vacancies were created this year by the retirement of Judge Elvira Austin Jan. 7 and last year of Judges Richard Kalustian May 8, Arnold Gold May 21, Kenneth Chotiner May 31, Kurt J. Lewin Aug. 16, Elva Soper Sept. 30, David Perez Oct. 5, Richard Charvat Nov. 5, and James Simpson-retired for disability-Dec. 1.

Three judges were elevated last year to the Court of Appeal-Laurence Rubin on Oct. 22, Paul Boland on Nov. 21, and Judith Ashmann on Dec. 7.

Vacancies also resulted from the deaths of Judge Stephen O'Neill July 10 and Judge Ronald Cappai July 17 and the removal of Judge Patrrick Couwenberg Aug. 15.

Judge David B. Finkel has postponed his retirement from Jan. 27 to Feb. 6. Judge James Albracht was due to retire this past Sunday, but has been on vacation and has not returned his retirement papers, an official said.

Judge Michael Pirosh postponed his retirement from today to Monday. Another vacancy will occur when Judge John Gunn steps down Feb. 13.

Scott M. Gordon, formerly a deputy district attorney, was elected a commissioner this month. The election was called after Commissioner-elect S. Robert Ambrose declined the post, reportedly because taking the job would have jeopardized his pension as a retired deputy county counsel.

Balloting among the court's judges is underway to elect successors to commissioners Gilbert Lopez, appointed a judge last month, and Jeffrey Marckese, who was killed in an automobile accident while commuting to work on Jan. 177.

Commissioner Michael Price has postponed his scheduled retirement from Jan. 21 to March 11. Commissioner Manly Caloff, who was originally set to step down Dec. 27, has postponed his retirement to Feb. 20. Commissioner Louis Head is retiring March 4 and Commissioner Linda Elliot March 31.

The following pieces of legislation were acted upon in January:

• AB 421 , by Assemblyman Howard Wayne, D-San Diego, which would delete the requirement that videotaped expert deposition testimony must be taken by a certified videographer in order to be used at trial. The bill passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 9-0 vote Jan. 23 and was sent to the Assembly floor.

• AB 1698 , by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, would create a system for converting court commissioner positions into superior court judgeships, with a limit of 10 such conversions statewide per fiscal year. The bill was amended Jan. 14, approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 10-0 vote Jan. 15, approved by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on a 20-0 vote Jan. 24, approved by the Assembly on Jan. 29 and sent to the Senate.

• AB 1699 , by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, which would permit a party to an arbitration agreement to obtain information from the arbitration provider regarding its policy with respect to issuing written decisions as to the arbitrator's awards. The bill was amended Jan. 18, approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 6-3 vote Jan. 23, passed the Assembly on Jan. 28 and was sent to the Senate.

• AB 1702 , by Steinberg, which require the Judicial Council to establish the Family Court Improvement Pilot Project, which, beginning July 1, 2003, would authorize up to four courts to implement new procedures and strategies for their family courts. The bill was amended Jan. 14 and passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 10-0 vote Jan. 15.

• AB 1703 , by Steinberg, which would clarify that the 10 percent cap used to determine the minimum number of hours of pro bono legal services a law firm contracting with the state is asked to make a good faith effort to provide means the number of hours equal to 10 percent of the contract amount divided by the average billing rate of the law firm. The bill was amended Jan. 18, approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 7-2 vote Jan. 23, approved by the Assembly Jan. 28 and sent to the Senate.

• AB 1767 , by Assemblyman Lou Papan, D-Millbrae, which would repeal provisions relating to discovery of evidence in civil actions. The bill was introduced Jan. 8 and has been referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

• AB 1812 , by Assemblyman Dario Frommer, D-Glendale, would appropriate $5.5 million from the state General Fund to the Office of Criminal Justice Planning for continued operation of and 65 new positions within the Los Angeles County Regional Criminal Information Clearinghouse. The bill was introduced Jan. 16 and referred to the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

• ACA 15 , by Wayne, a proposed constitutional amendment to delete obsolete references to the municipal courts from the California Constitution. The measure was introduced Jan. 7 and was referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

• ACR 142 , by Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, which would officially name the interchange where State Highway 105 connects with Highway 110 as the "Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange" in honor of the oldest active judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, was introduced Tuesday.

• SB 623 , by Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Los Angeles, which would state that it is the intent of the Legislature to appropriate from the General Fund to the Trial Court Trust Fund moneys for a program that would promote state-county partnerships in collaboration with the private sector in developing and implementing projects to address functionally deficient court facilities in the state. The bill was amended Jan. 16 and was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

• SB 927 , by Escutia, which would provide for the waiver of fees for an interpreter for a low-income party who is not proficient in English in domestic violence proceedings. The bill was amended Jan. 8 and was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

• SB 1252 , by Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Sylmar, which would create the Tribal Justice Task Force within the office of the attorney general. The bill was introduced Jan. 9.

• SB 1274 , by Sen. Ray Haynes, R-Riverside, which allow a tax credit in an amount equal to the value of pro bone services rendered during the taxable year by an attorney or doctor for, or on behalf of, any nonprofit charitable organization located in this state that provides services to the poor. The bill was introduced Jan. 15.

• SB 1316 , by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would make numerous changes in the law to account for the abolition of the municipal courts. The bill was introduced Jan. 24.

• SB 1325 , by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, which would conform California practice with respect to challenging personal jurisdiction to the practice under Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The bill was introduced Jan. 29.