Monday, June 9, 2008
Page 3
Judge Lee Edmon Among Eight Named to Judicial Council
By a MetNews Staff Writer
California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George Friday named eight members , including Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lee S. Edmon, to the Judicial Council of California.
Edmon told the MetNews she was grateful to her fellow judges on the court for nominating her to the position. Although she said it was “premature” for her to have any goals for the council, she said she was looking forward to “learning more about what the council is doing and what I can do to help.”
The University of Illinois College of Law alum and former Los Angeles County Bar Association president was elected to the bench in 2000, and serves as supervising judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court’s civil departments. She is a former partner of at the international corporate law firm of Dewey Ballantine LLP, where she worked for 13 years prior to taking the bench.
She previously served on the Judicial Council Governing Committee of the Center for Judicial Education and Research and the Task Force on Judicial Service, and she currently chairs the Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee. Edmon succeeds Los Angeles Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Charles “Tim” McCoy on the council.
Also named as new members to the council Friday were Third District Court of Appeal Justice Tami Cantil-Sakauye, State Bar Board of Governors member James Penrod, Alameda Superior Court Judge Winifred Younge Smith, Orange Superior Court Commissioner Lon F. Hurwitz, Placer Superior Court Executive Officer John Mendes, and Bench-Bar Coalition Co-Chair Joel S. Miliband, an Irvine attorney.
Tehama Superior Court Presiding Judge Dennis E. Murray was re-appointed to the council. The appointees will serve three-year terms, beginning Sept. 15.
Cantil-Sakauye was appointed to the appellate bench in 2005, after serving 15 years in the Sacramento Superior Court. Then-Gov. George Deukmejian appointed her to the municipal court in 1990, and then-Gov. Pete Wilson elevated her to the superior court in 1997. The former Sacramento deputy district attorney attended UC Davis for both her undergraduate and law degrees.
The justice is a member of the Judicial Council’s Domestic Violence Practice and Procedure Task Force and the Task Force for Criminal Justice Collaboration on Mental Health Issues. She succeeds Justice Eileen C. Moore of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Div. Three, on the council.
Penrod, a San Francisco lawyer who is completing his three-year term on the Board of Governors but elected not to run for the State Bar presidency, said he was looking forward to joining the council.
“I would like my later years, which is where I’m at, to be involved in working for the judicial branch of government,” he said. He will not seek a judgeship, himself, however, because he is “too old,” he said.
Penrod will be 66 when his Judicial Council term begins.
As a council member, he said he wants to try and increase the number of judges within the state, repair and upgrade courthouses, increase judicial salaries, and increase diversity. Acknowledging that this is a “difficult” year to accomplish these goals, he expressed hope that a bond measure will provide much-needed funding.
Penrod is senior counsel for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and was nominated to the council by the State Bar Board of Governors. The 30-year veteran business and environmental litigation attorney attended the United States Naval Academy and the George Washington University Law School. He succeeds Los Angeles attorney Thomas V. Girardi of Girardi & Keese on the council.
The Judicial Council consists of 14 judicial members appointed by the chief justice, four attorney members appointed by the State Bar Board of Governors, one member from each house of the Legislature, and six advisory members. The chief justice serves as the chair, and the administrative director of the courts serves as secretary to the council.
In other news, San Diego Superior Court Presiding Judge Kenneth K. So was appointed the new chair of the Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee. He will serve a one-year term in this position.
Copyright 2008, Metropolitan News Company