Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Monday, November 27, 2006

 

Page 3

 

Czuleger Completes Management Team, Sets Assignments for 2007

 

By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer

 

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Presiding Judge-designate Stephen J. Czuleger has named the remainder of the court’s management team for next year and disclosed where most of the court’s judicial officers will be assigned come Jan. 2.

Czuleger, who takes office as presiding judge at the beginning of the year, Wednesday named Judge David Yaffe as managing judge of the Writs and Receivers departments, and designated site judges for a number of smaller courthouses around the county where no district supervising judge is assigned. 

Those supervising judges, along with the assistant supervising judges, were named last month.

Notice of Wednesday’s appointments was sent to the judicial officers along with a cover letter, a copy of which was provided by the court, explaining that assignments for the court’s newly elected judges, who will be sworn in Jan. 8, will be made next month. “There may also be some assignment changes as a result of some of our colleagues leaving before the end of the year and if there are new appointments,” Czuleger advised, in which case the new slots will be assigned on the basis of previously expressed preferences “as well as the needs of the court at that time.”

Assigned as site judges were: Lisa B. Lench, Alhambra; Stephanie Sautner, Airport; Leland H. Tipton, Bellflower; Lisa Hart Cole, Beverly Hills; Zaven V. Sinanian, Burbank; Marcelita V. Haynes; Central Arraignment; Carolyn Kuhl, Central Civil West; Barbara Scheper, Chatsworth; Ana Maria Luna, Downey and Huntington Park; Maral Injejikian, East Los Angeles; Steven Sanora, El Monte; Charles W. Stoll, Glendale; Leslie A. Swain, Hollywood; John V. Meigs, Inglewood; Lawrence J. Mira, Malibu; Joseph A. Brandolino, Metropolitan Court; Tia Fisher, Pomona North; Judith A. Vander Lans, San Pedro; Lloyd Nash, Santa Clarita; Leslie A. Dunn, Van Nuys West; Laura Priver, West Covina; Joseph S. Biderman, West Los Angeles; and Yvonne T. Sanchez, Whittier.

Dunn will also continue to serve as assistant supervising judge of the Northwest District, as announced last month.

Other moves announced last month were that Lee S. Edmon will serve as supervising judge in the civil departments downtown, while William F. Highberger will remain assistant supervising judge.

Steven R. Van Sicklen, the current assistant supervising judge in the criminal departments, will replace David S. Wesley as supervising judge, and Peter Espinoza will become the new assistant supervising judge.

Michael Nash will remain presiding judge of the Juvenile Court and  Margaret S. Henry will stay on as supervising judge of the Dependency Court.

Gerald Rosenberg will be elevated from assistant supervising judge in the West District in Santa Monica, replacing Judge Linda K. Lefkowitz. Patricia L. Collins will become the new assistant supervising judge.

In the East District in Pomona, Daniel Buckley will replace Philip Gutierrez as assistant supervising judge. Lisa M. Chung will succeed Frank Jackson as assistant supervising judge in the North District in the Antelope Valley.

Robert J. Schuit will become assistant supervising judge in the North Valley District in San Fernando, replacing Judge Ronald Coen; while James Brandlin will succeed Francis J. Hourigan as assistant supervising judge in the Southwest District in Torrance. Allen J. Webster was named to replace the late Jack Morgan as assistant supervising judge in the South Central District in Compton.

Staying put are supervising judges Robert A. Schnider in the Family Law Department; Aviva K. Bobb in Probate; Thomas C. Falls in the East District; Thomas R. White in the North District in the Antelope Valley; Coleman A. Swart in the North Central and Northeast Districts in Burbank and Pasadena, respectively; Alice C. Hill in the North Valley; Michael Hoff in the Northwest; Mark C. Kim in the South District in Long Beach; John Cheroske in South Central; Brian F. Gasdia in the Southeast District in Norwalk and Mark S. Arnold in the Southwest District.

Assistant supervising judges who will stay put, besides Dunn, include Michael C. Solner, who oversees the limited jurisdiction civil departments downtown; Marjorie S. Steinberg in Family Law; Drew E. Edwards in Mental Health; Charlaine Olmedo in Misdemeanors; Janice Croft in the North Central and Northeast districts; Bradford L. Andrews in the South District and Raul A. Sahagun in the Southeast District.

 

Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company