Court Judges Elect Sharon Lewis Miller Commissioner

Friday, April 4, 2008

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Court Judges Elect Sharon Lewis Miller Commissioner

By a MetNews Staff Writer

The judges of the Los Angeles Superior Court have elected Deputy Alternate Public Defender Sharon Lewis Miller to be the court’s newest commissioner, court officials said yesterday.

A court spokesperson told the MetNews that Miller was elected to fill the position vacated by Commissioner Gary A. Polinsky’s retirement, and that Miller has told the court she will take the oath of office April 9.

A 1991 admittee to the State Bar of California, Miller received her undergraduate degree from Mills College in Oakland and attended Southwestern University School of Law.

The court spokesperson said that ballots for the election were mailed out March 11, and that they were returned on Wednesday and counted yesterday, at which time Miller was notified of the decision.

Miller was the highest-ranked candidate on the list of nominees for the position. Under local rules, vacant superior court commissioner positions that are not converted into new judgeships by SB 56 are filled by a vote of the judges from a list of candidates nominated by a court panel, with the timing of the election determined by the presiding superior court judge.

The court is expected to convert two commissioner vacancies into judgeships this year.

Following Miller’s election, 26 candidates remain on that list in the following ranked order:

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 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.