SACRAMENTO (CN) - Eleven new judges have been appointed to California Superior Courts.
Gov. Jerry Brown announced the appointments Tuesday.
Julie Fox Blackshaw, H. Jay Ford III, Gregorio Roman and Douglas W. Stern will become judges on Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Fox Blackshaw, 59, of Pasadena, has been deputy counsel to the mayor of Los Angeles since 2010. She was a federal court special master from 2002 to 2010. She was deputy general counsel to the Rampart Independent Review Panel at the Los Angeles Police Commission in 2000, and was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney's Office of Los Angeles from 1987 to 1994. She was in private practice for 11 years before that, a legislative assistant to Congressman Leon E. Panetta from 1982 to 1983, and an associate at the Law Office of Sellers Connor and Cuneo from 1979 to 1982. She earned her B.A. at Stanford and her J.D. at University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Ford, 52, of Malibu, has been a commissioner at Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2005. He was an associate at Tyre Kamins Katz and Granof Law Corporation from 1987 to 2005, and a litigation associate at Adams Duque and Hazeltine from 1985 to 1987. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah and his J.D. at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.
Roman, 53, of Whittier, has been a as deputy alternate public defender and senior trial attorney at Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender's Office since 1994. He was a deputy public defender there from 1991 to 1994, an associate at Lum Roberts and Gutierrez in 1991 and a deputy district attorney at Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office in 1989. He earned his B.A. from Yale and his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law.
Stern, 59, of Rancho Palos Verdes, opened his own law office this year. He has worked at Gibbs Giden Locher Turner and Senet, at Fidelity National Law Group from 2009 to 2012, was a litigation partner at Fulbright and Jaworski from 1990 to 2009, and was with Pepper Hamilton and Scheetz from 1982 to 1989. He was a litigation associate at Miller and Mandel from 1978 to 1982. Stern served on the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council from 1999 to 2011 and was mayor in 2003 and 2008. He earned his B.A. from UCLA and his J.D. at UCLA Law School.
Retiring from the L.A. Superior Court bench are Judges Joan Compater-Cassani, Carl West, Rose Hom, and Gary Hahn.
Patricia Guerrero and Michael J. Popkins, both of San Diego, were appointed to seats on San Diego Superior Court.
Guerrero, 41, has worked at Latham and Watkins since 1997, with time off in 2002-03 to work as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of California. She earned her B.A. from UC-Berkeley and her J.D. at Stanford. She will take the seat of Superior Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who has become a federal judge.
Popkins, 62, has been a deputy public defender at the San Diego County Public Defender's Office since 1985. He was a deputy public defender in L.A. County for seven years before that. He got his B.S. from Villanova and his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Erin K. Alexander and Lisa M. Rogan will become judges in San Bernardino County Superior Court.