Friday, October 5, 2001
Page 5
Davis Continues Flurry of Judicial Appointments With Four in North of State
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Gray Davis named four new superior court judges yesterday, bringing to 20 the number of judges named in the last two weeks.
Designated were San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Susan M. Breall to the San Francisco Superior Court, Union City attorney Frank Roesch and state courts staff lawyer Alice Vilardi to the Alameda Superior Court, and former Merced County Bar Association President John D. Kirihara to the Merced Superior Court.
Breall, 44, has been a San Francisco prosecutor since 1984. She is currently co-chief of the Criminal Division, supervising units dealing with domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, child abductions, victim and witness assistance, welfare fraud, and stalking.
She was an associate with Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro for two years before joining the District Attorney’s Office. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UCLA School of Law, earning high academic honors at both institutions.
Roesch, 54, is a probate referee in addition to his private practice. He is a former Legal Aid Society of Alameda County lawyer and board member and was president of La Raza Lawyers Association of California.
The Berkeley resident, a graduate of UC Berkeley and Hastings College of the Law, also chaired the Ethnic Minority Relations Committee of the State Bar.
Vilardi, 56, lives in Castro Valley and is currently managing attorney in the Office of the General Counsel of the Administrative Office of the Courts. She practiced governmental law in Alameda County for four years before accepting her present post in 1999.
She is a former general counsel to the East Bay Municipal Utility District, a former Hayward city attorney, and a former Santa Clara County deputy public defender. She is also a former president of the Bay Area City Attorney’s Association and is a graduate of Brown University and Boalt Hall.
Kirihara, 51, is a partner in Morse, Morse & Morse, the firm he joined in 1984. An experienced civil and criminal trial lawyer, he was a deputy public defender and is a part-time community college instructor.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis’s law school, he earned a teaching credential at California State University, Stanislaus and taught elementary school for several years prior to beginning his legal education. He is a former president of the Livingston-Merced chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.
Copyright 2001, Metropolitan News Company