Governor names a dozen new superior court judges

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown named 12 new superior court judges, including the fourth administration adviser tapped for the bench in recent weeks.

Daniel J. Calabretta, 40, has served as a deputy legal affairs secretary to Brown since 2013. He'll join the Sacramento County Superior Court after Brown leaves office on Jan. 7.

Calabretta clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens at the U.S. Supreme Court, was an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP from 2005 to 2008, and then was a deputy attorney general at the California Department of Justice until joining the administration.

"Dan is an excellent attorney and knows the law," Brown said in an email. "He'll be a valued addition to the bench."

The appointment follows a recent trend of Brown moving his legal staff onto the bench. On Oct. 26, the governor named his legal affairs secretary, Peter A. Krause, 49, to the 3rd District Court of Appeal and deputy legal affairs secretary Gabriel P. Sanchez, 42, to the 1st District Court of Appeal, Division One. Both were confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments on Monday.

On Dec. 21, the commission will evaluate Brown's long-awaited state Supreme Court pick, Joshua Groban, the governor's top legal adviser.

Brown's top adviser, executive secretary Nancy McFadden, was long rumored to be in line for an appeals court or Supreme Court appointment. An attorney who also served as a prominent adviser to President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and Gov. Gray Davis, she died of cancer in March at 59. Brown recognized her on Tuesday by inducting her into the California Hall of Fame.

THOMAS

Thursday's appointments fit with Brown's eight-year mission to leave a more diverse judiciary. They include seven women and several attorneys with specialties not often seen on the bench.

This includes another prior Brown appointee, Holly A. Thomas, 38, whom he named in 2016 as deputy director of executive programs at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Thomas will join the Los Angeles County Superior Court. She began her career clerking for 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw.

She joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. as a Liman fellow in 2005, then stayed on as assistant counsel there until 2010. Thomas worked five years as a senior appellate attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice and one year as special counsel to the solicitor general at the New York state attorney general's office.

While at the NAACP, Thomas -- working with attorneys at other organizations -- helped file an amicus brief that argued unsuccessfully in favor of the petitioners who sought to overturn Proposition 8, the initiative that eliminated the right of same sex couples to marry.

Thomas is one of seven new Los Angeles County judges, coming from a variety of public and private sector backgrounds. Mary E. Kelly, 65, is a former assistant federal public defender who has been an administrative law judge at the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board since 2004.

Daniel M. Crowley, 58, has been with Booth, Mitchel & Strange LLP since 1987, becoming partner at the Los Angeles business, employment and consumer firm in 1992.

Jessica A. Uzcategui, 43, comes from Sacks, Glazier, Franklin & Lodise LLP, a Los Angeles trust and estate firm where she has been a partner since 2012.

Alexander C.D. Giza, 51, has been a private sector attorney since 2001, most recently as a partner specializing in patent law at Hueston Hennigan LLP in Los Angeles since 2015. He began his career as a clerk to Justice Walter L. Carpeneti on the Alaska Supreme Court.

Jeffrey S. Cohen-Laurie and David K. Reinert are 43-year-olds from opposite sides of the Los Angeles criminal bar. Cohen-Laurie joined the county public defender's office in 2006, becoming a senior attorney and deputy alternate public defender there in 2008. Reinert has been a deputy district attorney since 2005.

Longtime sole practitioner Therese M. Foley, 67, will join the Kern County Superior Court. She brings a varied career with stints as a child support attorney, mental health patients' rights advocate and deputy county counsel.

Monique S. Langhorne, 43, takes the bench in Napa County after serving as a court commissioner since 2006. She has spent her entire career in the county, also working as deputy district attorney and family support officer.

H. Shaina Colover, 45, will join the Orange County Superior Court after two decades in private practice. She joined the Law Offices of Ronald B. Schwartz APC in 2002 and became a partner at the Newport Beach personal injury firm in 2012.

Laura J. Davis, 44, will join the Sutter County Superior Court after serving as a research attorney there since 2005.

The appointments are among the last Brown will make in a final push to staff the judiciary. The Judicial Council listed 37 openings on its most recent Judicial Vacancy Report on Oct. 31. The governor's office said there are about 30 remaining superior court vacancies, including several planned December retirements.

Eight judges were elected on Nov. 6, though at least one of these races unseated an incumbent superior court judge, San Diego County's Gary Kreep. Brown's November appellate appointments elevated four superior court judges who must be replaced.

-- Malcolm Maclachlan