Judges Elect Deputy Public Defender Nancy Pogue Commissioner

Friday, November 6, 2009

Page 4

Judges Elect Deputy Public Defender Nancy Pogue Commissioner

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Deputy Public Defender Nancy Pogue has been elected by the judges of the Los Angeles Superior Court as a commissioner, officials said yesterday.

Pogue, who works in the San Fernando branch office handling felony cases, could not be reached for comment.

She will fill the vacancy created by the appointment of John Lawson as a judge on Sept. 1.

One of Pogue’s former supervisors, Division Chief in Branch and Area Operations Kelly Emling, praised Pogue as “an extremely dedicated, caring public defender” who had “worked on a lot of complex cases” and had “a tremendous amount of experience” as an attorney.

Emling called Pogue “very, very bright, very tenacious…an excellent writer, and very thorough.”

She emphasized Pogue’s “ongoing excellent professional reputation” for “getting along very well with others…very hard working…and having a broad perspective.”

A graduate of UCLA and Southwestern Law School, Pogue was admitted to the State Bar in 1982.

Under local rules, vacant commissioner positions are filled by a vote of the judges from a list of candidates nominated by a court panel. Although the ranking order is not binding, all commissioners chosen in recent years have been selected in ranked order.

Following the election of Pogue, 12 candidates remain on that list in the following order:

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; and Deputy Public Defender Lisa Brackelmanns.