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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Two Appointed to Santa Clara Superior Court

(CN) - James Towery and Helen Williams have been appointed to judgeships in the Santa Clara Superior Court by California Gov. Jerry Brown.

James Towery, 64, replaces retiring Judge Kevin Murphy. The San Diego Democrat has served as counsel at Rossi Hammerslough Reischl and Chuck since 2011and as chief trial counsel at the State Bar of California from 2010 to 2011.

Towery was a shareholder at Hoge Fenton Jones and Appel Inc. from 1989 to 2010 and a partner at Morgan and Towery from 1979 to 1989. He served as a law clerk and an associate at Morgan Beauzay Hammer Ezgar Bledsoe and Rucka from 1976 to 1979, and is a former president of the State Bar of California and the Santa Clara County Bar Association. Towery earned a juris doctorate from Emory University School of Law and a bachelor's from Princeton University.

Helen Williams, 52, a Democrat from Santa Cruz, fills a vacancy created by retiring Judge Douglas Southard.

She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her juris doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law. She served as an attorney at Williams and Williams from 1987 to 1999 and at Olimpia Whelan and Lively from 1999 to 2001.

In 2001, she moved on to serve as an attorney at Robinson and Wood Inc. until becoming an appellate court attorney at the State of California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District in 2004. Williams is certified as an appellate specialist by the California State Bar.

The compensation for each position is $178,789.

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