Monday, September 29, 2003
Page 3
Commission Confirms Two to Serve on Court of Appeal
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Betty L. Dawson and Richard J. McAdams were unanimously confirmed Friday to the appellate bench by the Commission on Judicial Appointments in San Francisco.
Dawson was elevated from the Merced Superior Court, where she has been the presiding judge, to the Fifth District Court of Appeal. McAdams moves up from the Santa Cruz Superior Court to the Sixth District Court of Appeal.
Both were nominated by Gov. Gray Davis on Aug. 26.
Appellate judicial appointments require confirmation by the commission, which consists of Chief Justice Ronald M. George, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, and the senior presiding justice of the Court of Appeal to which the appointment is made.
Dawson, the presiding judge of the Merced Superior Court, was appointed to the bench by Davis in 2000. She previously served as a court commissioner on the Merced municipal and superior courts from 1992 to 2000. She is a former president of the Merced County Bar Association and served as a planning commissioner for the City of Merced.
She earned her undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University and her law degree from Hastings Law School. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice James Thaxter in May of 2001.
McAdams has been a trial judge since 1977, when he was appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown to the Santa Cruz Municipal Court. He was elected to the Santa Cruz Superior Court in 1998.
He has served as presiding judge of the Appellate Department and since 1999 has been presiding over a general civil department, where he is responsible for half of all civil cases filed in the county.
McAdams earned his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and his law degree from Hastings Law School. He replaces Justice Conrad Rushing, who was elevated to the position of presiding justice of the Sixth District.
Copyright 2003, Metropolitan News Company