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Lawyer Takes Out Petition to Run for Office Now Held By Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bernal
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A Los Angeles lawyer has taken out a petition with each signature on it reducing the cost of the filing for Los Angeles Superior Court Office No. 48, a seat presently occupied by a veteran judge, Margaret Miller Bernal—with neither the lawyer nor the judge responding to inquiries as to whether this would be an election challenge.
Los Angeles attorney Malik C. Burroughs took out the petition late Friday. The possible candidate is identified on the State Bar website as being with the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, but that firm’s website does not list Burroughs as being employed by it.
Burroughs, whose law degree is from the University of California at Berkeley, was admitted to practice in 1993.
Bernal, 66, was appointed to the Whittier Municipal Court by then-Gov Pete Wilson on Feb. 21,1998. She had been a commissioner of that court since 1992.
Ascendency to the Superior Court occurred in 2000 as the result of trial court unification. The former Whittier practitioner in 2020 was named by the Whittier Bar Association as one of three judges of the year.
Her 1983 law degree is from Loyola. The judge has not responded to two emails asking if she intends to run for reelection.
Also, Los Angeles attorney Mohammad Ali Fakhreddine on Thursday took out a petition on which he will seek signatures to cut the filing fee for Office No. 135 held by Judge Cary Nishimoto, who said Friday he will not be running.
The primary election is scheduled for March 5.
Copyright 2023, Metropolitan News Company