Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

18 New Judges Named to California Courts

(CN) - The California governor's office on Thursday announced the appointments of 18 Superior Court judges, eight of them in Los Angeles County - and Riverside County's first Native American judge.

Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Deborah S. Brazil, Carl H. Moor, Connie R. Quinones, Armen Tamzarian, Sergio C. Tapia, Lee W. Tsao, Frank M. Tavelman and Joel Wallenstein to the Los Angeles County bench.

Brazil, 54, of Los Angeles, has been a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles since 1997. She earned her J.D. at Southwester Law School.

Moor, 52, of Los Angeles, has been a partner at Munger Tolles and Olson since 2003. He got his J.D. from Yale Law School.

Quinones, 49, of Lakewood, has worked at the L.A. County Alternate Public Defender's Office since 1996, the last seven years as a senior trial attorney. She got her law degree from the Western State College of Law.

Tamzarian, 47, of South Pasadena, has been a senior appellate court attorney at the California Court of Appeal, Second District since 2008. He earned his law degree at Southwester Law School.

Tapia, 45, of Alhambra, ha worked at the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender's Office since 2001. He got his J.D. from the University of Iowa.

Tsao, 46, of Lakewood, has worked at the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office since 1997. He got his law degree from USC.

Tavelman, 47, of Los Angeles, has been a deputy district attorney at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office since 1999. He got his J.D. at Southwestern Law School.

Wallenstein, 53, of Long Beach, has been a commissioner at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2005. He got his law degree at the University of West Los Angeles School of Law.

Elsewhere, Thomas A. Glazier, Martha K. Gooding and Robert A. Knox were appointed to the Orange County bench.

Glazier, 53, of Lake Forest, is an assistant district attorney in Orange County. He got his J.D. at Brigham Young University.

Gooding, 59, of Newport Beach, has been a partner at Jones Day since 2011. She got her law degree at UC-Berkeley.

Knox, 57, of Irvine, was an assistant public defender in Orange County for 29 years. He earned his law degree at Pepperdine.

Sunshine Sykes was appointed to the Riverside County bench. Sykes, 39, of Riverside, has been a deputy county counsel at the Riverside County Office of County Counsel since 2005. She got her B.A. and J.D. at Stanford.

Sykes, a member of the Navajo Nation, will be the court's first Native American judge.

Khymberli S.Y. Apaloo was appointed to the bench in San Bernardino County. Apaloo, 43, of Rancho Cucamonga, has been a commissioner at San Bernardino County Superior Court since 2012. She got her J.D. at New York University School of Law.

Michael B. Sheltzer was appointed to Tulare County Superior Court.

Sheltzer, 57, of Visalia, has been public defender at the Tulare County Public Defender's Office since 2002. He earned his J.D. at Golden Gate University Law School.

Vanessa W. Vallarta was appointed in Monterey County. Vallarta, 52, of Salinas, has been city attorney for Salinas since 2005. She got her J.D. from Stanford.

Kate P. Segerstrom was appointed to a judgeship in Tuolumne County. Segerstrom, 58, of Sonora, has been in private practice since 2000. She got her J.D. from the University of the Pacific.

Ethan P. Schulman was appointed in San Francisco County. Schulman, 56, of Mill Valley, has been a partner at Crowing and Moring since 2009. He got his J.D. at UC-Berkeley.

Steven Lapham, 60, of Gold River, was appointed to the Sacramento County bench. Lapham has been an assistant U.S. attorney at the Eastern District of California since 1984. He got his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law.

Superior Court judgeships pay $181,292 in California.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...