Friday, March 10, 2006
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Assistant City Attorney and Private Lawyer Take Out Papers to Run for Open Superior Court Seats
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles Assistant City Attorney Susan Lopez-Giss and Los Angeles attorney Randolph M. Hammock have taken out papers to become candidates for the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Lopez-Giss, 56, paid her filing fee last Wednesday to become a candidate for Office No. 95, the seat being vacated by Judge Larry S. Knupp. Deputy City Attorney Richard Kraft also took out papers for that seat on Wednesday.
Lopez-Giss, who is married to Superior Court Harvey Giss, could not be reached for comment yesterday, but her campaign consultant, Evelyn Jerome, said her client would be “a great candidate.”
Lopez-Giss, she explained, has been with the City Attorney’s Office for 30 years.. “She created the first domestic violence program in the country, and trained law enforcement officers all over the country...and has been honored for her efforts.”
After trying over 100 cases to juries and winning over 90 percent, Jerome said, Lopez-Giss joined the Department of Water and Power’s legal unit, specializing in fraud cases, targeting large utility users who misappropriate water and electricity. She is now assistant general counsel for DWP, the first woman ever to hold the post, and was lead counsel in the recently settled litigation charging the department’s former public relations counsel with overbilling.
Hammock, 47, is seeking the seat of retiring Judge Paula Mabrey. He joins Deputy District Attorney David Stuart, Woodland Hills attorney Stephen Beecher, and Beverly Hills attorney Maria Rivas Hamar as candidates who have taken out or returned papers for that seat.
He said that after seven years of regular service as a judge pro tem, “it just kind of occurred to me that I’m very good at it.”
He said he had saved $100,000 for the race, and intends to raise outside money if he makes a runoff. He will not hire a campaign consultant, he commented, because he has long studied the judicial election process and thinks he can run the effort himself.
Hammock said his greatest strength as a candidate is “experience.” He said that he has a national practice, largely representing insureds in health insurance class actions, and has long represented motorcycle riders in products liability and civil rights cases, including a number of cases in which his clients were barred from wearing motorcycle club insignia in various public places.
He is admitted to practice in 15 states, including 12 in which he has actually sat for bar exams, he said.
Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company