Thursday, October 16, 2008
Page 1
Berle Named Supervising Judge in Civil Courts
By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle will replace Judge Lee Edmon as supervising judge of the civil departments in the Central District, the MetNews has learned.
A source familiar with the appointment said last night that Presiding Judge-Elect Charles W. McCoy had tapped Berle to take over the role when Edmon becomes assistant presiding judge Jan. 1.
Berle, 64, was a Century City business litigator when then-Gov. Pete Wilson named him to the Superior Court in 1996.
A 1965 graduate of Brooklyn College, Berle earned an M.B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966 and his law degree from Columbia University in 1969.
Local Practitioner
He practiced locally from 1970 until his appointment to the bench, the last eight years of that period as a partner in Chrystie & Berle, which he co-founded. He is a past president of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and was a State Bar Court referee from 1982-85.
His name was sent by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation more than four years ago as a possible appointee to the Court of Appeal. He is a former chair of the court’s Rules Committee, and served as coordination motion judge for clergy abuse cases filed in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
The MetNews also learned that McCoy will retain several of the current supervising judges, including Marjorie Steinberg in family law, Aviva Bobb in probate, Thomas White in the North District, Robert J. Schuit in the North Valley District, John Cheroske in the South Central District, Brian F. Gasdia in the Southeast District, Mark S. Arnold in the Southwest District, and Gerald Rosenberg in the West District.
Positions Retained
Candace J. Beason, who took over as supervising judge for the North Central and Northeast districts following the recent retirement of Coleman Swart, will keep those posts. Presiding Juvenile Court Judge Michael Nash and Dependency Courts Supervising Judge Margaret Henry will also retain their positions.
New supervising judges will be Peter Espinoza in criminal law, Daniel Buckley in the East District, Richard Kirschner in the Northwest District, and Arthur Jean in the South District. All are currently assistant supervising judges.
A complete list of judicial assignments for the forthcoming year is normally issued in November.
Copyright 2008, Metropolitan News Company