Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

 

Page 1

 

Governor Names 22 to Superior Courts, Six in Los Angeles 

Brown Also Nominates Three Judges for Elevation to Fourth and Fifth District Courts of Appeal

 

By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer

 

FIRDAUS F. DORDI

Attorney

MARK H. EPSTEIN

Attorney

RUBEN N. GARCIA

Deputy Public Defender

GARY I. MICON

Appellate Attorney

KEVIN S. ROSENBERG

Attorney

P. TAMU USHER

Deputy District Attorney

 

Gov. Jerry Brown Friday named 22 lawyers and court commissioners to superior court vacancies, including six to the Los Angeles Superior Court.

He also nominated three superior court judges for elevation to Divs. One and Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, and to the Fifth District Court of Appeal.

Appointed here were Firdaus F. Dordi, Mark H. Epstein, Ruben N. Garcia, Gary I. Micon, Kevin S. Rosenberg and P. Tamu Usher.

Dordi, 46, was a co-founder of Dordi, Williams, Cohen LLP in 2014. He previously served as a deputy federal public defender for the Central District of California from 2000 to 2014, a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi of the Central District, a research attorney for Superior Court Judge Thomas I. McKnew Jr., and a contract attorney at the Law Offices of Feldman and Levy.

He is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara and Loyola Law School, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Allan J. Goodman.

Epstein, 57, has been a partner at Munger, Tolles and Olson LLP since 1993, and was an associate there from 1988 to 1992. He previously clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr., state Supreme Court Justice Edward A. Panelli, and U.S. District Judge Stanley A. Weigel of the Northern District of California.

He is a graduate of UCLA and UC Berkeley School of Law and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of McKnew. He is the son of Presiding Justice Norman Epstein of this district’s Court of Appeal, Div. Four.

Garcia, 48, has served as a deputy public defender since 1995. He was previously an associate at Rushfeldt, Shelley and Drake LLP and at Bonne, Bridges, Mueller, O’Keefe and Nichols.

He is a graduate of Columbia College and UC Berkeley School of Law, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Richard A. Stone.

Micon, 59, has served as a lead appellate attorney at this district’s Court of Appeal since 2014, and was a senior judicial attorney there from 1993 to 2014. He was previously an associate at Morris and Spencer, a sole practitioner, a senior litigation associate at Finkle, Hersh and Stoll, and an associate at Ball, Hunt, Hart, Brown and Baerwitz.

He is a graduate of California State University, Northridge and Hastings College of the Law, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Elia Weinbach.

Rosenberg, 47, has been of counsel at Lowenstein and Weatherwax LLP since 2014. He was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District from 2000 to 2014, and served in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1995 to 2000.

He graduated from San Diego State University and McGeorge School of Law, and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Reva G. Goetz.

Usher, 47, of Altadena, has served as a deputy district attorney since 1999. She is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach and Howard University School of Law and a fills the vacancy created by the death of Judge Ellen C. DeShazer.

Brown’s appellate nominees were San Diego Superior Court Judge William S. Dato to the Fourth District’s Div. One, Riverside Superior Court Judge Richard T. Fields to the Fourth District’s Div. Two, and Fresno Superior Court Judge Kathleen Meehan to the Fifth District.

Dato, 61, has served as superior court judge since 2003. He was previously an associate, and then a partner, at Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes and Lerach LLP for 11 years, a senior research attorney at the Fourth District for 10 years, and a research attorney at the California Supreme Court for a year.

He is a graduate of San Diego State University and UCLA School of Law, and would, if confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice James A. McIntyre.

Fields, 57, has been a judge since 2000, and was the presiding judge in Riverside from 2007 to 2008. He was previously a Riverside Superior Court commissioner, a deputy public defender, and an attorney at the Law Offices of Reynolds, Bawden and Lawson.

He is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton and Western State University College of Law, with a master of laws degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. If confirmed, he will succeed Justice Jeffrey King, who retired.

Meehan, 63, has been a judge since 2014, and was a Fresno Superior Court commissioner from 2011 to 2014. She was a deputy state attorney general from 2008 to 2011 and was a shareholder at Baker, Manock and Jensen from 1997 to 2007, after having been an associate there from 1994 to 1997.

She was previously an associate at three different firms, and is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of California and UC Davis School of Law. If confirmed, she would succeed Justice Dennis A. Cornell, who retired.

Named to superior court judgeships in other counties were:

•Kira L. Klatchko, 35, vice chair of the appellate practice at Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard and Smith LLP, to the Riverside Superior Court;

•Imperial Deputy District Attorney Marco D. Nunez, 45, to the Imperial Superior Court;

•Stockton sole practioner Gus Correa Barrera II, 47, to the San Joaquin Superior Court;

•Deputy District Attorney Rachel Cano, 50; U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Laura E. Duffy, 54; Schor and Freeland LLP partner Cynthia A. Freeland, 46; and Deputy Public Defender Maryann D’Addezio Kotler, 56, to the San Diego Superior Court;

•Bradley S. Erdosi, principal attorney at his own law firm, 42; Orange Superior Court Commissioner Richard E. Pacheco, 60; and Kutak Rock LLP partner Michael J. Strickroth, 63, as judges of the Orange Superior Court;

•Solano Superior Court Commissioner William J. Pendergast, 44, as a judge of that court;

•Nevada Superior Court Commissioner Yvette Durant, 51, as a Sierra Superior Court judge;

•Siskiyou Superior Court Commissioner JoAnn M. Bicego, 53, as a judge of that court;

•Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati PC partner Elizabeth C. Peterson, 45, to the Santa Clara Superior Court;

•Ashby Law Firm owner and attorney David I. Ashby, 39, to the Sutter Superior Court;

•Sole practitioner Scott L. Tedmon, 62, to the Sacramento Superior Court; and

•Sole practitioner Stephen Murphy, 60, to the San Francisco Superior Court.

Bicego and Ashby are registered without party preference. The other nominees and appointees are Democrats.

 

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