Friday, May 23, 2014
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Judge Lisa Lench to Seek California Judges Association Presidency
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench is seeking the presidency of the California Judges Association, the MetNews has learned.
Lench could not be reached for comment, but a CJA member, who asked for anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the group, said that Lench and San Diego Superior Court Judge Joan Weber were the only candidates nominated by the deadline.
Lench and Weber, both former federal prosecutors, are currently the organization’s vice presidents, having been elected to those posts last year. The organization’s executive board normally elects the president for a one-year term at its June meeting, and the person takes office at the annual meeting held in the fall.
Lench, 60, was appointed to the court by then-Gov. Gray Davis in 2001. She was serving, at the time of her appointment, as deputy chief of the Narcotics Section of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California, supervising a team of assistant U.S attorneys responsible for the investigation and prosecution of national and international drug trafficking organizations.
Her largest case involved the Mexican Mafia. It resulted in the convictions of 20 defendants, including 10 life sentences.
While she said she has always aspired only to be a good lawyer, she said she now aspires to be a good, fair judge.
Currently sitting at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center, she is a graduate of UC Irvine and Loyola Law School.
Weber, 59, has been a judge since 1990, when she was appointed to the San Diego Municipal Court by then-Gov. George Deukmejian. She turned back an election challenge five months after she was appointed, and was elevated to the San Diego Superior Court by then-Gov. Pete Wilson in 1994.
A native of Cincinnati, she graduated from Ohio State University and from law school at the University of Arizona. After law school, she clerked for Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge—now Senior Judge—J. Clifford Wallace for a year, starting in 1980.
Weber was admitted to the Arizona and California bars in 1981. She spent two years as an associate at a Phoenix law firm before becoming an assistant U.S. attorney in San Diego, a post she held until her appointment to the bench.
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