Brown fills 23 more judicial vacancies

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown appointed two appellate court justices and 21 superior court judges across the state Friday.

Making good on his pledge to diversify the bench, 12 of the 23 judicial officers tapped were women. Twenty of the newly-named judges and justices are also Democrats.

Eleven appellate and 45 superior court vacancies remain following last week's appointments, according to Brian Ferguson, Brown's deputy press secretary.

Both of the newly appointed appellate court justices are being elevated from the superior courts. One replaces a long-tenured predecessor, while the other fills the vacancy created by a promotion to presiding justice.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Gail R. Feuer, 58, was tapped as a justice on Division 7 of the 2nd District Court of Appeal to fill the vacancy of created by Justice Norvell F. Woods' retirement after nearly 31 years on the bench.

Prior to her appointment as a judge in 2005, Feuer was a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council for 12 years. She also worked as deputy attorney general at the state Department of Justice after clerking for a federal judge after she graduated from Harvard School of Law. Feuer is married to Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer.

Brown also appointed Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Allison M. Danner, 47, as a justice of the 6th District Court of Appeal. She fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Mary J. Greenwood, who was named presiding justice of the appellate court after two months on the job.

Danner was a Northern District federal prosecutor for five years before joining the superior court in 2012. She also took a year off during that time to work as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice

Danner's father, Alden Danner, was also a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge.

The promotions of Feuer and Danner create new vacancies on the Los Angeles and Santa Clara County superior courts. In addition to the newly appointed appellate justices, Brown also named 10 judges to Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Helen Zukin, 60, is a partner at Kiesel Law with a specialty in pharmaceutical and defective device actions, environmental property damage and health care litigation.

She has also served as a temporary judge for the Los Angeles County court, chaired the State Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, and was president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.

Michelle C. Kim, 44, and Terrance T. Lewis, 60, join the Los Angeles court after serving in the county's public defender's office. Kim has worked as a deputy alternate public defender since 2005, while Lewis -- who worked in the public defender's office for 16 years -- has been a superior court commissioner since 2014.

Brown's other Los Angeles County appointments were Christopher W. Dybwad, 43, to a judgeship after a four-year stint as the chief deputy federal public defender for the Central District; Wendy Chang, a partner at Hinshaw and Culbertson since 2008; William A. Crowfoot, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District; Los Angeles sole practitioner Altus W. Hudson; Superior Court Commissioner Debra L. Losnick; Scheper Kim and Harris LLP partner Jean M. Nelson, and Beverly Hills sole practitioner Jonathan L. Rosenbloom.

Alameda County Superior Court gained two judges.

Richard L. Seabolt, 68, replaces retiring Judge Alice Vilardi. The civil litigator has been a partner at Duane Morris LLP since 2006 and was previously a partner at Hancock, Rothert and Bunshoft.

Jenna M. Whitman, 45, who was most recently a court appellate attorney in the 1st District Court of Appeal, was also named an Alameda judge after serving as a research attorney for the county for 10 years.

Gregory A. Pulskamp, 49, is a supervising deputy district attorney and would be Kern County's first Muslim judge.

In Humboldt County, Timothy A. Canning, 59, joins the bench after serving as a commissioner and research attorney for the county since 2016. He was a sole practitioner for 16 years before then.

In Inyo County, sole practitioner Stephen M. Place, 52, was tapped.

The Riverside County court, among the most under-resourced in the state, gained Dorothy McLaughlin, 45, who was of counsel at Best, Best and Krieger LLP since 2015.

In San Bernardino County, Stephanie E. Thornton-Harris, 54, was appointed after serving in the federal public defender's office since 2012.

Prior to being selected as a San Diego County judge, William Y. Wood, 58, was a superior court commissioner since 2009 and a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District from 2001 to 2008. He also worked in the San Diego County district attorney's office before becoming a federal prosecutor.

Solano County Superior Court gained Shauna L. Chastain, 48. She has been a sole practitioner since 2007. She was also an associate at Mattice Law Offices, which specializes in family law, for nine years.

Brown appointed Trinity County District Attorney Eric L. Heryford, 54, to that county's bench.

In Tulare County, Kerri M. Lopez, 46, was appointed to the bench after working as an assistant district attorney since 2016, and several other prosecutor positions in the preceding 17 years..

The confirmation hearings for the appellate court nominees are expected to take place at the end of June or early July, according to Commission on Judicial Appointments Secretary Ahmoi Kim.

Appellate justices are paid $228,918 per year, and superior court judges $200,402.

The 56 openings remaining are consistent with the vacancy rates of previous administrations given the overall size of the judiciary, which stands at approximately 1,600 judicial officers, according to Ferguson, the governor's spokesman.