2 commissioners named to San Joaquin County court

San Joaquin County Superior Court judges have unanimously elected two new commissioners.

The appointments of Erin Guy Castillo and Jayne Chong-Soon Lee were announced by Presiding Judge Linda L. Lofthus on Friday.

Castillo is a partner at Parish Guy Castillo PC, a three-attorney civil and appellate firm in Stockton. An experienced trial attorney on the plaintiff and defense side, she is a past president of the San Joaquin County Bar Association.

She is also a previous chair of the association’s Women Lawyers Section and the first recipient of its Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. Castillo earned her law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2007.

Lee has been the supervising probate attorney with the San Joaquin County court since 2015. She previously was a research attorney with the Alameda County Superior Court for a decade. She earned her degree at UCLA School of Law and passed the bar in 1995.

During her career, Lee has practiced tax law, taught at Golden Gate University School of Law, served on the executive committee of the Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar and worked as a deputy city attorney in San Francisco.

The appointments come as the state bench is nearly fully stocked ahead of a new governor’s administration. The monthly judicial vacancy report released by the Judicial Council last week shows only 37 vacant superior court judgeships.

None of these positions are in San Joaquin County. But Friday’s press release noted one of the two commissioner positions filled has been empty since 2011 due to budget cuts and said the court “is in need of additional judgeships.”

A judicial needs assessment released by the Judicial Council in 2016 found San Joaquin County was tied with Fresno County as the 11th most underserved superior court in the state and needed nine more judges.