Monday, December 6, 2010
Page 3
Governor Names Majors-Lewis, Nine Others to Superior Court Judgeships
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday appointed 10 people, including his top advisor on judicial appointments, to judgeships on six superior courts around the state.
Judicial Appointments Secretary Sharon B. Majors-Lewis was named to the San Diego Superior Court. The governor named Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Chou to the Marin Superior Court; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner William D. Claster and Commissioners Lon F. Hurwitz and Joe T. Perez as judges of the Orange Superior Court; and Donald J. Currier, chief deputy inspector general at the California Office of the Inspector General, and Paul L. Seave, director for the Governor’s Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy, to the Sacramento Superior Court.
Schwarzenegger also named San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Alexander R. Martinez to that county’s superior court; and tapped Chief Assistant State Public Defender Donald J. Ayoob and Redwood City attorney Leland Davis III for the San Mateo Superior Court.
Majors-Lewis, 62, has served as judicial appointments secretary since 2007, and was a chief deputy district attorney in San Diego from 2005 to 2007, and a deputy district attorney from 1987 to 2005. She was also an appellate attorney for Appellate Defenders, Inc. and a sole practitioner from 1986 to 1987.
A Republican, Majors-Lewis attended National University San Diego and National University School of Law before joining the State Bar in 1985.
Chou, 47, has been an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of California since 2002, and similarly served in the Western District of Washington from 1999 to 2002. He was an assistant district attorney in San Francisco from 1991 to 1999 and an associate attorney for Littler, Mendelson, Fastiff and Tichy from 1989 to 1991.
A Democrat, he joined the State Bar in 1989 after graduating from UC Berkeley and UC Davis School of Law.
Claster, 58, has served as an associate, then partner, at Gibson Dunn since 1976, when he was admitted to the State Bar. A Republican, he attended Stanford University and UCLA School of Law.
Hurwitz, 56, has been a commissioner since 2004, and was elected in June to fill a vacancy on the Orange Superior Court. Friday’s appointment allows him to take his position on the bench immediately. He served as special counsel for the State Senate in 2004 and was a sole practitioner from 1999 to 2004 and from 1983 to 1990.
He was also a partner for the Law Office of Hurwitz and Humphreys from 1990 to 1998, and a partner for the Law Office of Sandquist Rokes and Hurwitz from 1979 to 1983. Registered decline-to-state, Hurwitz graduated from California State University, Long Beach and Southwestern University School of Law before joining the State Bar in 1979.
Perez, 48, has served as a commissioner since 2007, and was a deputy public defender for the Orange County Public Defender’s Office from 1995 to 2007 and a sole practitioner in 1995. A Democrat, he was admitted to the State Bar in 1994 and attended UCLA and Southwestern University School of Law.
Currier, 52, of Folsom, has held his current post since 2008, and was an assistant secretary and chief legal counsel for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from 2007 to 2008. He was chief legal counsel for the California Lottery from 2006 to 2007 and a deputy cabinet secretary for Schwarzenegger’s office from 2004 to 2006.
He served as legal counsel for the California Department of Veterans Affairs from 2003 to 2004 and director for the California Commission on Teaching Credentialing from 1999 to 2000. Before that, Currier served as chief legal counsel and chief deputy director for the Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning from 1995 to 1999 and as counsel for the Assembly Committee on Public Safety from 1994 to 1995.
Currier was also a deputy district attorney in Sacramento from 1991 to 1994. A Republican, he joined the State Bar in 1990 and attended California State University, Sacramento, the U.S. Army War College and Lincoln University School of Law.
Seave, 57, has served in his current role since 2007, and was chief counsel for the California State Board of Education from 2005 to 2007 and a special assistant attorney general for the California Attorney General’s Office from 2001 to 2005. He served as a U.S. attorney and first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California from 1993 to 2001, and as an assistant U.S. attorney for California’s Central District from 1983 to 1989 and from 1990 to 1993.
Admitted to the California State Bar in 1985, Seave was an associate for Ballard, Spahr, Andrews and Ingersoll from 1980 to 1983 and a law clerk for Justice Samuel Roberts of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 1979 to 1980. He graduated from Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and is a Democrat.
Martinez, 40, has served as a deputy district attorney since 1998, and was an associate attorney for Tuverson and Hillyard from 1996 to 1997. A Democrat, he joined the State Bar in 1995 after attending UC Irvine and UC Hastings College of the Law.
Ayoob, 55, has been the chief assistant state public defender since 2002 and was a deputy state public defender from 1988 to 2002. He and Davis are Democrats.
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