Monday, August 14, 2006
Page 1
Governor Names Judith L. Meyer to Superior Court
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday named Deputy District Attorney Judith Levey Meyer to the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Meyer, who was elected in June to succeed Judge Stephen Petersen, told the MetNews she expects to be sworn in just before or just after Labor Day. Petersen retired June 26; the appointment allows Meyer to serve the last four months of Petersen’s unexpired term.
Meyer, who once told a reporter that she had aspired to the bench ever since starting law school, said her goal is “to make lawyers happy to come into [her] courtroom.”
She won a strong victory over two opponents in the June primary, in contrast with the 2004 election in which she lost a hotly contested runoff to then-Commissioner Donna Groman.
Meyer, a 39-year-old Long Beach resident, has held a number of assignments as a prosecutor, most recently handling elder abuse cases. She was previously a sex crimes prosecutor at the Torrance courthouse.
She is a 1988 graduate of UC Santa Barbara, and worked as an emergency medical technician in Santa Barbara during her last two years of school. She also has extensive experience as a guide for white-water rafting, skiing, and bicycling trips.
She earned a law degree from Pepperdine University in 1993, and received a certificate from the university’s alternative dispute resolution program the same year.
She began her prosecutorial career as a deputy district attorney in Ventura County, but switched to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office a year later, starting out in child support enforcement until an opening on the criminal side of the office came up.
Meyer is also an assistant professor at Pacific Coast University School of Law in Long Beach, where she had taught since 2002. She started out as a legal research and writing instructor but is now slated to teach constitutional law.
Meyer is a Republican.
The governor Friday also named San Mateo Deputy District Attorney Susan I. Etezadi, 47, to the San Mateo Superior Court. Etezadi, who previously did insurance fraud, homicide, and sexual assault cases, now specializes in cases involving mental health and environmental health issues.
Etezadi is a graduate of UC Davis and holds a law degree from the University of San Diego. A Democrat, she was elected in June to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge John Schwartz, and, like Meyer, would have taken office in January if not for the appointment.
As of July 1, Superior Court judges are paid $150,696 annually.
Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company