8 Judges Named to California Superior Courts

(CN) - Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed eight new judges to California Superior Courts, six of them in Southern California.

Pamela M. Parker and Michael D. Washington were appointed to the bench in San Diego Superior Court.

Parker, 56, of San Diego, has been a senior appellate attorney at the Fourth District Court of Appeal of San Diego, Division One since 2012. She worked at Robbins Geller Rudman and Dowd LLP from 1991 to 2011, at Lankenau Kovner & Bickford from 1988 to 1988, and at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton and Garrison LLP from 1983 to 1988.

She graduated from the State University at New York at Binghamton and got her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. She is a Democrat.

Washington, 54, of Temecula, as been a deputy public defender in San Diego since 1994. He got his bachelor's degree from San Diego State and his J.D. from California Western School of Law. He is a Republican.

Gail O'Rane was appointed to Riverside County Superior Court.

O'Rane, 40, of Altadena, has been a deputy capital defender at the Riverside County Capital Defender's Office since 2010, and a deputy public defender at the Riverside County Public Defender's Office from 2000 to 2010.

She got her bachelor's degree at UCLA and her J.D. at Pepperdine Law School. She is a Democrat.

Sheri L. Honer and Joanne Motoike were appointed to the Orange County Superior Court.

Honer, 52, of Santa Ana, has worked at Frank P. Barbaro and Associates since 2011. She was a senior legal research attorney and coordinating attorney at the Orange County Superior Court from 2004 to 2011 and a deputy district attorney there in 2010. She also has worked as a sole practitioner, at Appellate Defenders Inc., and for Callahan McCune and Willis. She got her bachelor's and J.D. degrees from Western State University. She is a Democrat.

Motoike, 45, of Long Beach, has been a senior deputy public defender at the Orange County Public Defender's Office since 2008. She was a trial attorney at the United Nations Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from 2006 to 2008 and a deputy public defender at the Orange County Public Defender's Office from 1994 to 2006. She got her bachelor's degree from UC-Irvine and her J.D. from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. She is a Democrat.

Carrie McIntyre Panetta was appointed to Monterey County Superior Court.

Panetta, 46, has been a criminal executive judge at Alameda County Superior Court since 2011, and a superior court judge there since 2007. She was a deputy district attorney at the Alameda County District Attorney's Office from 1999 to 2007 and an associate at Brobeck Phleger and Harrison from 1992 to 1999.

She got her bachelor's from the University of North Dakota and her J.D. at the University of Virginia. She is a Democrat.

Sunil R. Kulkarni and Lori E. Pegg were appointed to Santa Clara County Superior Court. Kulkarni, 41, of Palo Alto, has been senior counsel in the University of California, Office of the General Counsel's litigation group since 2011. He worked at Morrison and Foerster LLP from 1998 to 2011. He got his bachelor's at UC-Berkeley and his J.D. at UC-Hastings College of Law. He is a Democrat.

Pegg, 52, of San Jose, has worked at the Santa Clara County Office of the County Counsel since 2011, most recently as assistant county counsel. She worked at Hoge Fenton Jones and Appel from 1999 to 2001 and at Burke Williams and Sorensen from 1992 to 1999. She got her bachelor's from UCLA and her J.D. at Santa Clara University Law School. She is a Democrat.

California Superior Court judges make $178,789 a year.

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