Monday, March 30, 2015
Page 1
Brown Names 12 Judges, Four to Los Angeles Superior Court
By a MetNews Staff Writer
|
|
|
|
|
|
GEORGE F. BIRD Attorney |
FRANK J. MENETREZ Judicial Staff Attorney |
MICHAEL C. SMALL Attorney |
KEVIN P. STENNIS Deputy District Attorney |
Gov. Jerry Brown Friday named 12 new judges, including four to the Los Angeles Superior Court.
George F. Bird, Frank J. Menetrez, Michael C. Small and Kevin P. Stennis will be the local court’s newest members.
Bird, 58, has been a criminal trial attorney at Bird and Bird since 1993. He has served on the Palos Verdes Estates since 2009, serving as mayor from 2012 to 2013 and again since earlier this year.
Bird was a senior associate at Anderson, Ablon, Maseda and Lewis from 1991 to 1993 and at Jagiello and Pech from 1990 to 1991, a deputy public defender from 1986 to 1990, and a member of the U.S. Navy from 1974 to 1980.
He holds degrees from California State University, Northridge and Loyola Law School and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Joseph S. Biderman.
Menetrez, 49, has served as an appellate judicial attorney at this district’s Court of Appeal since 2005. He was an associate at Horvitz and Levy from 2004 to 2005 and at Sidley Austin from 2001 to 2004, and clerked for Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge A. Wallace Tashima from 2000 to 2001.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, he holds a master’s degree, a Ph.D., and a law degree from UCLA and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge John V. Meigs.
Small, 54, has been senior counsel at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld since 2002. He was chief counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California from 1999 to 2000 and a visiting professor at UCLA School of Law from 1997 to 1999.
His previous employment include stints at the U.S. Department of Justice and at Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. He graduated from the University of Michigan and Georgetown University Law Center and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Wendy L. Kohn.
Stennis, 58, has been a deputy district attorney since 1999 and previously worked for the county at Auxiliary Legal Services in 1999. A graduate of USC and Southwestern Law School, he fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Candace J. Beason.
Appointed in other counties were:
•Deputy Public Defender Marian F. Gaston and Deputy District Attorney Lisa R. Rodriguez to the San Diego Superior Court;
•Commissioner Hugo J. Loza to the Tulare Superior Court;
•State Deputy Attorney General Ross C. Moody, private practitioner Joseph M. Quinn, and Assistant District Attorney Sharon M. Reardon to the San Francisco Superior Court; and
•Assistant Public Defenders James P. Cramer and Andrew A. Steckler to the Alameda Superior Court.
Bird and Rodriguez are Republicans; the other appointees are Democrats.
Copyright 2015, Metropolitan News Company