Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Page 1
CJA Elects Superior Court Judge Vicencia as President
By STEVEN M. ELLIS, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael P. Vicencia of the Los Angeles Superior Court was elected the 78th president of the California Judges Association by the group’s executive board at its meeting yesterday in Sacramento.
The judge is scheduled to begin a one-year term as president of the group representing California’s 2,800 active and retired state judges, justices, commissioners, referees and State Bar Court judges on Sept. 13, and succeeds San Francisco Superior Court Judge Mary E. Wiss.
The association yesterday also elected Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin Brazile and San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Keith D. Davis as vice presidents for the 2009/2010 term, and Imperial Superior Court Judge Barrett Foerster as secretary-treasurer.
Vicencia was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2002 by then-Gov. Gray Davis, and currently hears civil and probate matters in Department One of the Torrance Courthouse.
The judge began a three-year term on the association’s executive board in 2007 and currently serves as a vice president, and has served on the group’s Legislature Relations Committee since 2003.
He chairs the Los Angeles Superior Court Legislation Committee and is a member of the Legislative Relations Committee and the Temporary Judge Committee, and he recently completed a two-year term on the court’s Executive Committee.
Vicencia also serves as faculty for the Center for Judicial Education and Research’s New Judge Orientation program, and is a member and past president of the Benjamin Aranda Inn of Court.
A graduate of the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, he was admitted to the State Bar in 1990.
Immediately prior to taking the bench, Vicencia was with the firm of Prindle, Decker and Amaro in Long Beach. His father, Frank Vicencia, was in the state Assembly from 1974 to 1986, the last four years as speaker pro tem.
Brazile is in his first year on the CJA Executive Board. He recently chaired the 2008 Midyear Conference Planning Committee, and has also served on the Compensation & Benefits Oversight Committee.
The judge was also appointed to the Superior Court by Davis in 2002, and is currently assigned to a general civil calendar.
Prior to becoming a judge, Brazile worked for 18 years at the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office, and in 1994 he was awarded the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Civil Attorney of the Year Award.
A graduate of UCLA School of Law, he was admitted to the State Bar in 1984.
Judge Keith D. Davis is also in his first year on the association’s executive board, and was appointed to the bench in 1997 by then-Gov. Pete Wilson.
He is currently is on civil assignment but has also handled juvenile, civil and criminal calendars. Davis has also served three terms as presiding judge of the San Bernardino Superior Court’s Appellate Division and on various court committees.
He attended Golden Gate University School of Law, and was admitted to the State Bar in 1983.
Foerster is in his second year on the executive board, and he has served in the criminal, family law and civil departments of the Imperial Superior Court since his appointment to the bench by then-Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.
Prior to taking the bench, he served for 21 years as a California probate referee, and also specialized in employment law and was a certified family law specialist.
Admitted to the State Bar in 1970, Foerster attended law school at UCLA.
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