Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Page 4
Three New Commissioners Named to Los Angeles Superior Court
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Three new commissioners have been named by the Los Angeles Superior Court, officials said yesterday.
John Lawson II, Michael Garcia, and Elizabeth Munisoglu are currently undergoing orientation in preparation of taking up their permanent assignments. They replaced former commissioners John Ing, Graciela Freixes, and Mitchell Beckloff, who were named by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as judges in May.
Lawson, 45, was a deputy public defender before being tapped as a commissioner. He has been assigned to juvenile court in Long Beach, effective Thursday.
Garcia, 49, comes to the court from the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Los Angeles. He and Munisoglu—formerly a deputy district attorney—will sit at Metropolitan Court beginning July 12.
The three were the highest-ranked candidates in voting by judges, from a list of persons nominated by a court panel. Judges are not required to elect the highest-ranked candidates, but in practice, the ranked order has been followed in every election for the past several years.
The remaining candidates on the list, which carries over into future elections, are Superior Court Referees Patricia Nieto and Dennis Carroll; Morrison & Foerster partner B. Scott Silverman; Deputy Alternate Public Defender Sharon L. Miller; Westside attorney Alan Rubin of Rubin & Adelson; Referee Jacqueline Lewis; Superior Court probate clearing attorney Robert S. Wada; Referee Steven Berman; Long Beach attorney Michael Pearce of Wise Pearce Yocis & Smith; and Sonneschein, Nath & Rosenthal partner Lloyd Loomis.
Also Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jon R. Takasugi; Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Matthew C. St. George; Deputy Public Defender Kenneth H. Taylor; William V. McTaggart Jr., a professional mediator and former partner at Parker, Milliken, Clark, O’Hara & Samuelian; Stephen M. Lowry of the downtown Los Angeles firm of Russo & Lowry; Los Angeles attorney Michael Shultz; Deputy Public Defender Nancy Pogue; Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Inspector General Nicole Bershon; Children’s Law Center attorney Emma Castro; Deputy Public Defender Marguerite Downing; Deputy District Attorney Eloise Phillips, Michael R. Diliberto, president of Advantage Arbitration and Mediation Services, LLC; Deputy District Attorney Arunas A. Sodonis; Los Angeles attorney Faith Mitchell; Referee Shep Zebberman; Lancaster attorney William A. Clark; Richard L. Bissetti, an associate at Century City’s Magana, Cathcart & McCarthy; Downey criminal defense lawyer Michael LaPan; Hawthorne Deputy City Attorney Robert Kim; Deputy Public Defender Lisa Brackelmanns; and Deputy District Attorney Renee Korn.
Copyright 2007, Metropolitan News Company