Eight to Be Elected Superior Court Commissioners

Thursday, November 20, 2025

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Eight to Be Elected Superior Court Commissioners

By a MetNews Staff Writer

KITO ROBINSON SMITH

Housing Authority attorney

There are eight vacant commissioner positions on the Los Angeles Superior Court and each will be filled in an election that is underway.

Electronic balloting began Monday and ends Dec. 4. Results will be certified by the Canvassing Committee on Dec. 5.

The Commissioner Selection Committee certified 38 applicants as eligible for election, with Kito Robinson Smith, an attorney with the City of Los Angeles Housing Authority, placing at the top of the list.

It is expected that the eight highest on the list will be chosen. They are, other than Smith, Deputy Los Angeles County Counsel Alima Starr Coleman, Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender Haaris M. Syed, Los Angeles County Deputy Alternate Public Defender Alexis Salzman, Children’s Law Center of California attorney Margaret Elizabeth Brandow, Community Legal Aid SoCal attorney Sarah Reisman, Marc Andre Bertet of the Century City law firm of Summers Levine Lipsic & Hersh LLP, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Anne Williams of the Central District of California.

Four of the positions to be filled were created by retirements. The commissioners who hung up their robes are Sheryl M. Beasley, Armando Duron, Robert M. Kawahara, and Jose A. Rodriguez.

The other four are still wearing robes, but have been appointed to judgeships on the court. They are Amir Aharonov, Susel Carrillo-Orellana, Amanda Park, and Melinda Porter.

Park placed first on the last eligibility list, released in February 2024.