Brown chooses two more aides as superior court judges

Continuing a recent trend, Gov. Jerry Brown has named two more of his aides to the bench.

They were among 13 judges appointed Friday. The diverse group includes nine women, two African-Americans and six Asian Americans. All but three are under 50.

The aides are Joginder Dhillon, 57, and Peter K. Southworth, 53. Both will join the Sacramento County Superior Court.

Southworth has been Brown's chief deputy legal affairs secretary since 2014. He's spent most of his career with the state, joining the Department of Justice in 1997. He served as deputy secretary and general counsel at the California State Transportation Agency from 2013 to 2014.

He has been involved in several significant cases related to Brown's abolition of redevelopment agencies and other issues.

Dhillon has been a senior adviser to Brown since 2013. The U.S. Air Force Academy graduate spent most of his career in the military, rising to become the legal adviser to U.S. Space Command/North American Aerospace Defense Command. He was chief counsel for the California Gambling Control Commission from 2009 to 2013, during an expansion of tribal gaming in the state.

Dhillon

He is also the first Sikh appointed to the Sacramento County Superior Court; the region has a large Sikh community.

Those appointments follow four other Brown aides named to appellate and superior courts, a group led by his California Supreme Court nominee, Joshua Groban.

Four more judges will join San Francisco Bay Area courts, including Eumi K. Lee, 46, the first Korean-American judge appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court. She has been a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law since 2005, and served two years as the co-director of the Hastings Institute for Criminal Justice.

Audra Ibarra, 49, will become the first Filipina-American appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court, according to Brown's office. She spent much of her career in U.S. attorney's offices, including serving as the deputy chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force in the Northern District of California.

Fisher and Phillips LLP partner Wendy McGuire Coats, 44, will join the Contra Costa County Superior Court. The youngest appointee is Stephanie G. Jones, 39, who will join Solano County Superior Court after serving as a deputy public defender in the county since 2005.

Los Angeles County Superior Court will gain three judges, including two public defenders. Anne Hwang, 42, has been with the federal public defender's office in the Central District of California since 2006. She became the chief deputy public defender there this year.

She will be joined by Joseph J. Burghardt, 46, a Los Angeles County deputy public defender since 2000. Lisa S. Tamashiro Coen, 45, has been a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 2000.

San Diego County will also get a trio of new judges. Laura H. Miller, 50, has been a solo attorney since 2005, focused on family law. Rohanee Zapanta, 42, has been a deputy public defender in the county since 2005. Wendy M. Behan, 46, has been with Casey, Gerry, Schenk, Francavilla, Blatt & Penfield LLP since 1999. She became a partner with the San Diego civil firm in 2010.

Johnnetta E. Anderson, 41, will join the court in Riverside County, where she has been with the public defender's office since 2006. She became a supervising deputy public defender in 2016.

The Judicial Council reported 32 vacant superior court slots as of Nov. 30.