Governor names 6 more superior court judges

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown announced six superior court judge appointments on Monday, including two more with ties to his administration.

Both will serve on the Yolo County Superior Court.

Tom M. Dyer, 44, has been Brown’s chief deputy legislative affairs secretary since 2015. He’s spent his legal career in the public sector, starting with two years at the Sutter County district attorney’s office. He moved on to counsel positions at three state agencies: the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the Department of Social Services and the Department of Personnel Administration, rising to become legislative director there in 2010. He was legislative director at the California Department of Finance from 2012 to 2015.

After a 15-year career with the California Department of Justice, Peter M. Williams, 50, became general counsel at the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency in 2016. While there, he was involved a major labor law case. State Building & Construction Trades Council of California v. City of Vista, 2012 DJDAR 9223.

The state Supreme Court found charter cities did not need to comply with the state’s prevailing wage law for the construction of public buildings. Brown signed a bill the next year, SB 7, that does compel charter cities to pay these wages.

Sandy N. Leal, 46, will become a judge on the Orange County Superior Court after an extensive career in federal service. She was an assistant district counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1999 to 2004. Leal joined the Central District U.S. attorney’s office in 2004, and became deputy chief there in 2015.

Colin T. Bowen, 55, was named to the Alameda County Superior Court. He has been a supervising deputy city attorney at the Oakland city attorney’s office since 2015. He spent seven years with the Alameda County public defender’s office and six years as partner at Clay & Bowen LLP in Emeryville.

Two other appointees will become judges just months after being named as commissioners: Scott R. L. Young, 39, in Napa County; and Mark A. Urioste, 44, in Sonoma County. They have both spent most of their careers with their counties’ district attorney’s offices.

Brown has now named more than 25 judges in December, his last full month in office, leaving just a few open positions. Since Nov. 29, he’s named 10 aides or top attorneys with administrative agencies to the bench.