Thursday, August 9, 2001
Page 3
Justice Epstein, Judge Dukes Among Four Named to Judicial Council
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Court of Appeal Justice Norman L. Epstein of this district’s Div. Five and Los Angeles Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Robert A. Dukes have been named to the Judicial Council of California by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, the Administrative Office of the Courts said yesterday.
Epstein and Dukes are among four new judicial members named by George, all of whom will serve three-year terms beginning Sept. 15. The others are Solano Superior Court Presiding Judge William C. Harrison and Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Barbara Ann Zuniga.
Harrison currently serves as an advisory member of the council in his capacity as president of the California Judges Association. Incoming CJA President Stephen D. Bradbury, presiding judge of the Lassen Superior Court, will replace Harrison as an advisory member.
Also named as an advisory member of the council by the chief justice was Christine Patton, executive officer of the Santa Cruz Superior Court.
The council consists of 21 voting and six advisory members. The voting members are the chief justice, 15 judges named by him, three attorneys named by the State Bar Board of Governors, and two legislators.
The AOC also announced that San Diego attorney Thomas J. Warwick has been named to the council by the Board of Governors, also for a term beginning Sept. 15.
Epstein has been a judge for more than 26 years and has assisted the Judicial Council in a number of capacities. He is currently chair of the Criminal Law Advisory Committee and previously served on bodies dealing with judicial education, civil and small claims, gender bias, economical litigation, appellate court staffing, and alternative dispute resolution.
Epstein, who had previously served as a deputy state attorney general and as general counsel of the California State University and Colleges, was named to the Los Angeles Municipal Court by Ronald Reagan as he was departing the governorship in 1975. He served as assistant presiding judge of the court before then-Gov. Jerry Brown elevated him to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1980.
He was named to the Court of Appeal by then-Gov. George Deukmejian in 1990 and was the MetNews Person of the Year for 1994.
Dukes was a Los Angeles deputy district attorney, a West Covina sole practitioner, and a partner in a Pasadena law firm before Deukmejian appointed him to the Pomona Municipal Court in January 1987. He was elevated to the Superior Court, also by Deukmejian, in 1989.
He has served on the faculty of the Continuing Judicial Studies Program of the Center for Judicial Education and Research since 1999.
Copyright 2001, Metropolitan News Company