Local Judges Buckley, Lyons Named to Judicial Council

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

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Local Judges Buckley, Lyons Named to Judicial Council

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Daniel Buckley and Dalila Corral Lyons have been named to terms on the Judicial Council of California, effective in September, Presiding Judge Carolyn Kuhl has informed colleagues.

In an email dated last Friday, Kuhl said the chief justice had appointed Buckley—the court’s assistant presiding judge and currently a non-voting member of the council—to a three-year term as a voting member, and Lyons to a two-year term as a non-voting member.

Buckley will succeed Judge James Brandlin, who has served on the council for the past three years.

“Due to the strength of the talents and reputations of Dan and Dalila, which convinced the Chief Justice to appoint them, Los Angeles will have three strong representatives on the Judicial Council,” Kuhl wrote. Judge Emilie Elias remains on the council.

The presiding judge added:

“I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Jim Brandlin for his service on the Council. He established a distinguished, credible and strong presence and worked diligently to represent the views of trial judges and trial courts on critical issues decided by the Council during his tenure.”

Buckley, who if tradition is followed will be the court’s presiding judge in 2017 and 2018, was appointed to the court in 2002 by then-Gov. Gray Davis. He was supervising judge of the East District in 2009-10, and chaired the Technology Committee and the Civil and Small Claims Committee before becoming assistant presiding judge.

He has been an adjunct law instructor at Loyola Law School, Southwestern, USC and Notre Dame.

At the time of his appointment, Buckley was managing partner in the law firm then known as Breidenbach, Buckley, Huchting & Hamblet, where he represented defendants in tort and environmental litigation. He was with the firm for 22 years.

Buckley received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Notre Dame.

Lyons is a graduate of USC and of UC Berkeley School of Law, and was admitted to the State Bar in 1985.

She was named to the Superior Court by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005.

Born in Durango, Mexico, she interned at the White House Office for Hispanic Affairs while attending USC. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she served as the Sheriff’s Department chief legal advisor, practiced civil litigation with the Office of the County Counsel, and business and entertainment litigation with private law firms.

She received the Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award and the Judicial Excellence Award from the Mexican American Bar Association and an Alumni Merit Award from the USC Alumni Association, and served as president of the Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation for more than 11 years, overseeing the awarding of college scholarships to Latino students.

She has served on the court’s Community Outreach Committee and Diversity Subcommittee, on the board of the California Latino Judges Association, and on the faculty of the state judicial college.