Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Thursday, January 11, 2007

 

Page 3

 

Ninth Circuit Reappoints Bankruptcy Judge Robles to Central District Court

 

By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer

 

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reappointed Ernest M. Robles as a bankruptcy judge for the Central District of California, Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder said yesterday.

Robles, 50, who maintains chambers in Los Angeles, was appointed to the Central District bankruptcy bench in 1993.  His second 14-year term will take effect when his current term ends on June 11, 2007.

The reappointment is the culmination of a six-month vetting process.

Robles, who was unavailable for comment, has been a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and its Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section since 1994, and a member of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum since 1993. He has been a frequent speaker at various bankruptcy forums and co-authored, with local bankruptcy lawyer Linda Curtis, “U.S. Trustee’s Role in Bankruptcy” which appeared in Business Lawyers’ Bankruptcy Guide (1991).

Robles was born in Mexico in 1956 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1960. He graduated from UC Berkeley in 1978 and the University of Michigan School of Law in 1981.

He worked for the Los Angeles firm Musick, Peeler & Garrett from 1981 to 1982, and for the San Francisco firms Hancock, Rothert & Bunshoft from 1982 to 1987 and Kornblum, Kelly & Herlihy – now Kornblum & Ferry – from 1987 to 1988.

Robles served as an assistant U.S. trustee from 1988 to 1993, heading the San Jose office, before his 1993 appointment to the bench, where he succeeded Judge William J. Lasarow upon the latter’s retirement.

Barry Russell, chief bankruptcy judge for the Central District, could not be reached yesterday for comment. When Robles applied for reappointment last year, however, Russell described him as an “outstanding judge” and said he “wholeheartedly” supported his bid for a second term.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California reported 41,929 bankruptcy filings in fiscal year 2006.  The court has 24 bankruptcy judges and five divisional offices serving seven counties.

Bankruptcy judges receive an annual salary of $151,984.

 

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