Three Named to Alameda County Superior Court

(CN) - Stephen Kaus, Scott Patton and Gregory Syren have been appointed as Alameda Superior Court judges by California Gov. Jerry Brown.

Kaus, 64, a Democrat from Berkeley, fills a vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position in February 2012. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, as an undergraduate and later from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

From 1974 to 1980, Kaus worked as a deputy public defender at the Contra Costa County Public Defender's Office. He became a partner at Kaus Kerr and Wagstaffe from 1982 to 1990, and then maintained a solo practice from 1990 to 1993.

Kaus has been a partner at Cooper White and Cooper since 1995.

Patton, 51, a Democrat from Piedmont, replaces the now retired Judge Beverly Daniels-Greenberg. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his juris doctorate from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

The Alameda County District Attorney's Office has employed Patton as a deputy district attorney since 1990.

Syren, 53, a Democrat from Kensington, fills a vacancy created by the federal appointment of U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

He graduated from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, after earning a science degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Guadagni Flax and McGrath hired Syren as an associate in 1986. He served as a deputy public defender at the Napa County Public Defender's Office from 1986 to 1987. In 1987, he became a deputy public defender at the Solano County Public Defender's Office. That same year he moved on to the Alameda County Public Defender's Office, serving as an assistant public defender.

Each will receive an annual salary of $178,789.

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