Thursday. June 21, 2007
Page 3
Judge Terry Friedman Reappointed to Judicial Council
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Chief Justice Ronald M. George Ronald M. George has reappointed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Terry B. Friedman to the Judicial Council of California.
Friedman was named to a new three-year term beginning Sept. 15, the Administrative Office of the Courts said in a release.
Currently a member of the council’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care, Friedman has served actively on numerous council committees, including the Policy Coordination and Liaison Committee, the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission, the Probation Services Task Force, and the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee. He was previously an advisory member of the council.
The 54-year-old bench officer was elected to the Superior Court in 1994. After eight years in the state Assembly, he won a judgeship after a hotly contested, high-spending runoff campaign.
He spent his first seven years on the bench in juvenile court, serving as supervising judge of the dependency courts and later as presiding juvenile court judge. He currently hears a civil calendar in Santa Monica.
He also chaired the Juvenile Court Judges of California, and is a past
president and vice president of the California Judges Association. He has written articles for the association’s journal on judicial-legislative relations and on judicial elections.
As a lawyer, Friedman worked as a staff attorney for the Western Center on Law & Poverty from 1976 to 1978, then as executive director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services until his election to the Legislature.
He is a graduate of UCLA and Boalt Hall and has been an adjunct professor at Loyola, UCLA and USC law schools.
George also named Orange Superior Court Presiding Judge Nancy Wieben Stock, who is president of the council’s Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee, to a new one-year term, reappointed San Bernardino Superior Court Judge James Michael Welch to a three-year term, and named two new members—Fifth District Court of Appeal Justice Brad R. Hill and San Joaquin Superior Court Judge George J. Abdallah Jr.—to three-year terms.
Ventura Superior Court Executive Officer Michael D. Planet was named an advisory member.
In addition to George’s appointees, former State Bar President Anthony Capozzi will begin a new term on the council in September. Capozzi was appointed two years ago by the State Bar Board of Governors after another former president, James Herman,, had to resign from the council following his appointment to the Santa Barbara Superior Court.
Capozzi was reappointed to the council by the board in March.
Plumas Superior Court Presiding Judge Ira. R. Kaufman is expected to be appointed as an advisory member of the Judicial Council after he assumes office as California Judges Association president later this year, the AOC said. .Members of the council are chosen through a nominating procedure that begins with nominations and applications solicited by the council’s Executive and Planning Committee, the AOC explained. The committee forwards the names of three nominees for each vacancy to the Chief Justice for consideration, giving added consideration to persons who have served on Judicial Council advisory committees or task forces.
Copyright 2007, Metropolitan News Company