Thursday, August 11, 2011
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Judges Champagne, Injejikian Set Sept. Retirements
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Judith Champagne and Maral Injejikian have slated their retirements for September, officials said yesterday.
Champagne’s last day is set for September 1, and Injejikian’s, for September 6.
Efforts to reach Champagne, who officials said has been using her accrued vacation since July 28, have been unsuccessful. Injejikian did not return a message seeking comment yesterday.
Injejikian, who turns 60 at the end of this month, began her judicial career in 1985, with an appointment by then-Gov. George Deukmejian to the Los Angeles Municipal Court.
She served as presiding judge of the court for the first half of 1987, before being selected by Deukmejian for a seat on the superior court.
Before taking the bench, Injejikian, was a partner with Geragos, Kirakosian & Yegayan. She worked for three years in private practice after a two year stint as a deputy public defender.
Injejikian worked as an English teacher at Le Conte Junior High in Hollywood after graduating from CSU Northridge in 1973, while attending Western State University for law school.
During her third year, she clerked for then-Judge Armand Arabian, now a retired justice of the California Supreme Court, and joined the State Bar in 1980.
Champagne, 67, was born in Albany, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles. She attended UCLA, earning a degree in sociology in 1965, and took a job as a social worker with the county before attending Loyola Law School.
Upon graduation and her admission to the State Bar in 1974, Champagne entered private practice with her then-husband Stanley Cohen in the Hawthorne area. In 1977, she joined the district attorney’s office, where she remained until tapped by Deukmejian for the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1987.
Deukmejian elevated her to the superior court in 1990, where she presided over the trial of reputed Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss and had her name and persona adopted into a character who makes cameos in several of novelist Michael Connelly’s works.
Copyright 2011, Metropolitan News Company