Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Page 3
Governor Appoints Three to Bay Area Superior Courts
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday named three lawyers to judgeships in the Santa Clara and San Mateo superior courts.
Named to the Santa Clara courts were trial lawyer Franklin E. Bondonno and San Jose Deputy City Attorney Carol W. Overton. Elizabeth Lee, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, was named to the San Mateo court.
Bondonno, 63, has more than 32 years of trial experience, mostly in the area of environmental law. He has been an attorney with Popelka Allard, A.P.C. since 1972, serving as managing partner since 1997.
From 1972 to 1973, Bondonno served as deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County and, prior to that, was an attorney in private practice. He is a graduate of Pacific Union College and Santa Clara School of Law.
He succeeds Judge William R. Danser, who retired following his conviction on corruption charges. The Commission on Judicial Performance recently censured Danser and barred him from sitting on assignment.
Overton, 49, has served in the San Jose City Attorney’s Office for the past 18 years, beginning as a deputy city attorney in 1987 and becoming senior deputy attorney in 2000. Previously, Overton served as deputy public defender in San Jose from 1984 to 1987.
She is a graduate of UCLA and Santa Clara School of Law, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Charles W. Hayden.
Lee, 47, of South San Francisco, has been an assistant U.S. attorney in San Francisco since 1991, currently serving as deputy chief of the Organized Crime Strike Force. She was in private practice for three years before that, and was previously an assistant U.S. in the District of Columbia.
Lee graduated from UC Berkeley and Columbia School of Law. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Margaret J. Kemp.
All three appointees to the $149,160-per-year positions are Democrats.
Copyright 2005, Metropolitan News Company