Brown continues to pick more judges as his term winds down

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown appointed two appellate court justices, promoted another and named 25 superior court judges across the state on Tuesday.

The latest batch of nominees continues Brown's pledge to make the judiciary more diverse. Of the 28 judges and justices named, 12 are women. At least 11 come from ethnic minority backgrounds. The administration is scheduled to release a legislatively-mandated annual report on judicial diversity Thursday.

The group also represents generation shift. All but four of the 28 will fill seats vacated by retirement, while just two will move into new positions created by the conversion of commissioner jobs. The average age of the new superior court judges is 48; three are in their 30s.

Each of the three new appellate court justices replaces a noted, long-tenured predecessor. Two are also married to federal judges.

The group is led by Mary J. Greenwood, 61, whom Brown appointed to become presiding justice of the 6th District Court of Appeal. Brown named Greenwood to the 6th District just two months ago.

Brown's elevation of Greenwood fits with his past tendency of choosing public defenders. She spent seven years as the Santa Clara County's public defender after a career in the office and then served as a judge in the county. She is married to U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila of San Jose.

The governor chose Greenwood over several more experienced justices to replace Conrad L. Rushing, who stepped down in December while under investigation by the Commission on Judicial Performance for sexual harassment and other alleged misconduct. Rushing, and the 6th District in general, earned a reputation in recent years for frequently being overturned by the state Supreme Court.

Carl H. Moor, 56, will join Division Five of the 2nd District Court of Appeal after serving on the Los Angeles County bench since 2014. He spent a dozen years as a partner with Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and also served as an assistant U.S. Attorney.

He replaces the late Richard M. Mosk, the son of the late attorney general and California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk, who served 15 years on the court before retiring in 2016.

Helen I. Bendix, 65, was named to Division One of the 2nd District after sitting on the Los Angeles County Superior Court bench since 2000. She fills the seat Elwood G. Lui left when he became presiding justice in December. Bendix is married to U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt of the Central District.

Both Bendix and Moor are graduates of Yale Law School, Brown's alma mater and his go-to school for new justices. Their promotions create two new vacancies on Los Angeles County Superior Court, but Brown also named seven new judges to the state's biggest court.

Two hail from the area's large Armenian community: Michael R. Amerian and Armenui A. Ashvanian. Ashvanian, 46, has been a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 2005 and also teaches at Glendale University College of Law.

Amerian, 43, has been a deputy Los Angeles city attorney since 2003. He is one of four Republicans Brown appointed on Tuesday. Eight of the new judges list no party preference, while 16 are Democrats.

Ashfaq "Ron" G. Chowdhury, 43, joins the Los Angeles court after serving as a deputy federal public defender in the Central District since 2010. Danette J. Gomez, 41, has worked as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 2006. Audra M. Mori, 50, spent a dozen years as a partner at Perkins Coie LLP in Los Angeles, where she was promoted to managing partner last year.

Kimberly Baker Guillemet, 39, has directed the Los Angeles Mayor's Office of Reentry since 2015. This is a program that provides job opportunities to some of the estimated 45,000 people who are paroled in Los Angeles County each year. Prior to that, she was with the state Department of Justice for seven years and spent three years as an attorney for Disability Rights California.

Joseph M. Lipner, 53, will take the bench after more than two decades as a partner with Irell & Manella LLP in Los Angeles.

Three other large urban courts will each gain a trio of judges.

James R. Reilly, 63, will join the Alameda County Superior Court after more than two decades as a partner at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani.

Also joining the Alameda County bench are Jason Clay, 48, and Amy L. Sekany, 47. Clay has served as a commissioner on the court since 2013. He was a partner with Clay & Bowen LLP from 2008 to 2013.

Sekany has been the court's family law facilitator and managing attorney for self-help services since 2016. She also spent six years managing the Eviction Defense Center in Oakland.

Cynthia M. Herrera, 46, joins the Orange County Superior Court after 20 years with the district attorney's office. She was promoted to senior deputy in 2011. Herrera is married to another Orange County judge, Thomas A. Delaney.

She'll be joined on the court by Kimberly A. Knill, 54, and Thomas S. McConville, 53. Knill spent 20 years as a sole practitioner, and most recently worked as a senior appellate attorney in the 4th District Court of Appeal. McConville has been a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP since 2009 and has also worked in two U.S. attorneys' offices.

Truc T. Do, 46, joins the San Diego County Superior Court after working as a partner in Jones Day since 2014. She was a partner at Munger Tolles from 2009 to 2014 after spending a decade in the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

The San Diego County court will also gain Marcella O. McLaughlin, 47, and Saba Sheibani, 39. McLaughlin spent five years in the San Diego city attorney's office and another 12 as a deputy district attorney. Sheibani leaves the public defender's office, where she has worked since 2004. She was named assistant supervising attorney with the office in 2016.

Riverside County, one of the most under-served courts in the state in recent years, will get two new judges. But it also loses a commissioner, Gregory J. Olson, who takes the bench after serving in that role since 2005. Olson was also a deputy public defender with the county for 15 years.

He'll be joined by Russell Moore, 41, who will head east after working in the Los Angeles County district attorney's office since 2005.

Leonard E. Marquez, 44, joins the Contra Costa County Superior Court after nearly two decades with Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP, where he became a partner in 2010. In Sonoma County, Christopher M. Honigsberg, 38, joins the court after serving as a deputy district attorney since 2009. He also spent three years as a deputy prosecutor in Tulare County.

Mark A. Ralphs, 57, will leave the El Dorado County public defender's office after more than 20 years to take the bench there. He was an assistant public defender there since 2007.

Humboldt County Superior Court gains Kaleb V. Cockrum. The 43-year-old attorney was a deputy public defender from 2004 to 2017, and was named interim public defender earlier this year.

At 64, Douglas M. Prouty is the oldest superior court appointee. He'll become a judge in Plumas County, where he has been a sole practitioner since 1990. He ran a mediation company from 1994 to 2001, and was contract public defender since 2001.

Timothy J. Schmal, 61, was a partner with a trio of firms from 1988 until opening his own firm in 2014. He'll join the Santa Cruz County Superior Court.

Jody M. Burgess, 44, will become a Shasta County judge after working as a partner at two different firms since 2007.

Once the new judges are in place, there will be as few as 36 superior court judgeships and nine appeal court positions open. This would mark the lowest judicial vacancy rate since mid-2011, Brown's first year back in the governorship.

One job remains unfilled, to the frustration of many court watchers. Thursday will mark six months since Kathryn M. Werdegar retired from the California Supreme Court, and nearly a year since she told the governor she planned to step down.